Root ‘very optimistic’ England will play home Tests despite virus
England captain Joe Root has said he is “very optimistic” Test cricket will take place in his side’s 2020 home season even if which means the squad need to go into a lot more than two months’ of quarantine.
With Britain currently in lockdown due to the coronavirus, a three-Test series against the West Indies scheduled for June has been postponed, with Pakistan due to visit later in a season whose start has now been delayed until July 1 at the initial.
In a bid to salvage the most lucrative matches carrying out a warning from England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) leader Tom Harrison a totally wiped out season may cost the board o380 million ($469 million, some reports have suggested an expanded squad as high as 30 could stay in camp for provided that nine weeks, with Tests played nowadays.
Root said as long as the British government relaxed lockdown rules sufficiently to let the matches just do it some international matches could yet be salvaged from an otherwise possibly barren campaign.
“I’m very optimistic, hopefully that can be the case and it would be a real shame if it wasn’t,” he told the Cricket show on Sky Sports on Thursday.
“I think a number of individuals are desperate to see live sport back on telly (television) and the guys are all very much missing playing and would wish to reunite out there.”
Root, who saw England cut short a tour of Sri Lanka in March as a result of the threat of COVID-19, praised the recent input of ECB medics as he stressed: “Safety is paramount and we are looking for to be sure everyone involved is absolutely safe.
“I’m sure the discussions will progress and we’ll get more information and get closer and nearer to cricket being back on and international cricket being played.” - ‘Very different look’ -
One plan is always to have all internationals this year played at Hampshire’s Ageas Bowl and Lancashire’s Old Trafford as these grounds, with their on-site hotels, offer better ‘bio-security’ than other Test match venues.
Nonetheless it could put a strain on players’ private and family lives if indeed they were not able, as is normal in a home season, to go back home between matches.
Nevertheless Yorkshire batsman Root, whose wife Carrie is expecting their second child, said he and his team-mates could cope.
