As per an ESPNcricinfo report, the top cream of English Test cricketers had a thorough discussion with Cricket Australia regime on Tuesday about their concerns regarding the stringent rules and regulations amid the pandemic.
Following this, the England and Wales Cricket Board has given the players a time span lasting until the end of this week to take their final decision. The report further stated, “the team is only set to tour if an adequate number of front-liner players agree to travel” to Australia.
However, that concern was crushed in another report by the Daily Telegraph, which mentioned that skipper Joe Root has got a number of first-choice players agreeing to make the Ashes trip, with only Jos Buttler being the likely exception.
Buttler could opt out of the series, as per the report, having indicated earlier that he isn’t so comfortable about the prospect of extended time away from his family in stringent bio-bubbles.
Buttler and his wife celebrated the birth of their second child last month, when he missed the fourth Test at The Oval against India and also skipped the UAE leg of IPL 2021 for Rajasthan Royals, fearing bubble fatigue ahead of the long winter.
While Buttler’s withdrawal is not official yet, Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer and Moeen Ali are three of the prominent names that are certain to not be travelling with the side. Stokes has been on an indefinite break from the game since the end of July to resolve his mental health concerns. Archer has been ruled out for the entire year because of his elbow surgery and extended rehab. And Moeen has bid farewell to Test cricket.
But a stronger likelihood that Root and company will make the Ashes will cause a huge sigh of relief for Cricket Aaustralia, which has a whopping A$200 million riding on the five-match home Test series.
CA’s CEO Nick Hockley is learnt to have assured England players that they won’t have to have a hard quarantine before the long tour, and their families will be allowed with some leniency on safety protocols.
The Ashes is scheduled to begin on December 8, with the first Test in Brisbane.
