England and Wales Cricket Board director of special projects Steve Elworthy said, the International Cricket Council (ICC) is discussing the possibility of introducing substitutes if a player tests positive for COVID-19 during a test match. The ICC authorised “like for like” substitutes in last year to replace concussed players during matches in all formats of international cricket,and Elworthy said the same rule would have to be implemented to COVID-19 substitutes.
Elworthy mentioned to Sky Sports, “COVID substitutions are definitely something the ICC is discussing, and I’ve seen correspondence about that and it ‘s definitely something we hope to be permitted to do — especially for test matches, not necessarily ODIs (one-day internationals) or T20s (twenty-20s).
He disclosed further, “That replacemen would have to be a ‘like for like’ player. Our on-site COVID medical practitioner and Public Health England would be immediately informed and that player would then be placed in isolation for a certain period.
Next month, England will host the West Indies in a three-test series, the visitor team will fly in a 14-man squad plus 11 reserves, they will train and quarantine together before the first test which will be held on July 8 in Southampton. He pointed out to the media, “With the testing protocols of getting those players into that (bio-secure) bubble first, you would hope that wouldn’t be a scenario we’d have to deal with.”
“But it is obviously something that we are planning to do” he mentioned again during the interview.
