Ashes 2021-22: Serious questions about Perth Test due to strict COVID-19 norms, reckons Australia's sports minister

The high-profile Ashes series is all set to kick off in December 2021 in Australia but there have been a lot of obstacles revolving around the tournament due to the country’s stringent COVID-19 norms. In the latest turn of events, there is another blow for Ashes when Australia’s sports minister Richard Colbeck announced that Perth will not be able to stage the Ashes Test yet again due to strict COVID-19 norms.

Perth was scheduled to hold the final Test of the Ashes which is set for 14 January 2022 but Colbeck believes that the capital of Western Australia might take a step back due to their quarantine requirements. He explained that players would never opt for quarantining 14 days in Western Australia after playing their fourth Test in Sydney.

“We’ve had to do a lot of work to organize quarantine arrangements for cricketers coming into Australia. There are serious questions about whether there’ll be a test match in Perth this summer. If there’s no chance of coming here without prolonged quarantine, it just won’t occur,” said Australia’s sports minister Richard Colbeck while taking to Perth radio station 6PR.

The Ashes series is scheduled to kick off from Brisbane

The Ashes will kick off on December 08 with the first Test taking place in Brisbane followed by Adelaide on December 16. The caravan will finally move to Melbourne (December 26) and Sydney (January 05) for the 3^rd and 4^th Test respectively. It has to be noted that English players have already talked of pulling out from the entire series due to Australia’s extremely strict COVID-19 norms.

English players have also cleared the matters with Australian officials on taking their families alongside which was not allowed earlier. However, now the England players don’t want their families to go through strict COVID-19 quarantine rules which anyway take a toll on people’s health. Australia’s stringent rules have put the high-profile series in doubt as of now and it remains to be seen when things get eased out there. Tim Paine and his men would not want the series to go in vain given the country’s strict quarantine rules.