ICC mulling substitutes for Tests if player tests positive for COVID-19

The International Cricket Council (ICC) hasn’t ruled out the chances of introducing substitutes in Tests matches in case a player tests for coronavirus during a course of a match. The development was put forth by Steve Elworthy, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) director of special projects.

Last year, the apex cricket board brought about “like for like” substitutes in case of concussion to a particular player. Marnus Labuschagne became the first concussion substitute after Steve Smith was ruled out of the Lord’s Test in the Ashes last year. Elworthy said that the same rule would be applied for COVID-19 patients as well.

ICC thinking of like-for-like replacement

“COVID replacements are certainly something that the ICC are discussing. I’ve seen communication about that and it’s certainly something we hope would be allowed — specifically for Test matches, not necessarily ODIs (one-day internationals) or T20s (Twenty20),” Elworthy was quoted as saying in Sky Sports.

“That replacement would have to be a ‘like for like’ player… Our on-site COVID medical practitioner and Public Health England would be informed immediately and that player would then be put into isolation for a period of time.

“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 clearly it’s something we are planning for,” Elworthy, who’s also a former South Africa fast bowler, added.

England are all set to host the West Indies in a three-match Test series. The opening Test will get underway on July 8 at the Edgbaston in Birmingham. The second and third Test will be played at the Old Trafford in Manchester. The visitors will be taking a 14-man squad along with 11 reserves.

They will train and quarantine together for around a month before marking the return of Test cricket in the country. The Brits are also scheduled to host Pakistan in August. Recently, the inaugural edition of the Hundred and the T20 Blast were also postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

As far as changes are concerned, the ICC has also put forth the regulations that need to followed after the resumption of cricket. The board has restricted the use of saliva taking into account how contagious the coronavirus has been.