Ireland call-up Joshua Little after 4 players and assistant coach test positive for COVID-19 ahead of USA and WI tours

Cricket Ireland has had to send an SOS to pace bowler Joshua Little after multiple COVID cases within in the squad announced for the upcoming USA and West Indies tours. Little is currently in Sri Lanka featuring in the Lanka Premier League (LPL) playing for Dambulla Giants who have qualified for the playoffs. The team will miss Little’s services for the crucial game.

Among the four players, Barry McCarthy and George Dockrell tested positive before embarking on the USA tour in the pre-series testing round. The duo will have to complete their isolation period of 10 days now and only after returning negative PCR tests, they will be allowed to link up with the team in the USA.

Meanwhile, the other two players, Gareth Delany and Harry Tector were already in Florida playing in the US T20 Open tournament. Both of them have contracted the virus in the testing which was done prior to them joining the squad and their arrival in Miami is also delayed now. Craig Young, the fifth member of the squad, was identified as a close contact of a COVID positive case and wasn’t permitted to travel.

Assistant coach Gary Wilson’s travel had to be delayed after he received a false positive report during the pre-series testing round. He will be re-tested now and if the report returns negative, will be allowed to fly out on Sunday.

Cricket Ireland confident of USA tour going ahead

According to the press release from Cricket Ireland, the rest of the players and coaching staff that arrived in Miami on Friday cleared the COVID test after landing. Despite five players missing from the original squad now, Cricket Ireland’s high performance director Richard Holdsworth is confident that the series will go ahead without anymore hiccups.

“We are pleased to have our squad arrive in Miami and are all looking forward to the series ahead. We have experienced a few last-minute complications related to COVID, but with the extended travelling squad that we have taken, and the recall of Josh Little from Sri Lanka, we don’t foresee any issues with the series proceeding as scheduled.

“We have been very fortunate over the last 20 months to have had very few Covid-related issues impacting upon our international teams – and while the last few days have forced us into some last minute juggling, we are optimistic that we can minimise the impact on the USA series,” he said according to ESPNCricinfo.

Ireland are scheduled to play two ODIs and three T20Is against the USA starting from December 22. Their tour will conclude at the end of this year (December 31) while their West Indies tour comprising of three ODIs and a one-off T20I will commence on January 8.