PAK vs WI: Roston Chase, Kyle Mayers and Sheldon Cottrell test positive for Covid-19, series to go forward as per plan

West Indies trio of Roston Chase, Kyle Mayers and Sheldon Cottrell have tested positive for Covid-19 a day before the start of the limited-overs series against Pakistan in Karachi, Cricket West Indies (CWI) has confirmed.

West Indies limited-overs squad landed in Karachi on December 9, with all players placed in hotel quarantine. During regular rounds of testing upon their arrival, three players along with a non-coaching member of the team management unit returned positive tests. All four members, it is learnt, are fully vaccinated and asymptomatic, but have been isolated from the other squad members and will not be available for the upcoming series.

Johnny Grave, the CEO of CWI, clarified that the development will have no impact on the tour, which will go ahead as per schedule, although he admitted that the last-moment unavailability of the abovementioned players “will seriously impact our team preparations”.

“Our arrival testing protocols in Pakistan have confirmed four (4) COVID-19 positives, Grave was quoted by a CWI release. “These were confirmed whilst the players and staff were still in room isolation, so despite this significant setback to our preparation plans, we are confident that the tour can continue as everyone else returned negative PCRs prior to their arrival into Pakistan and two negative PCRs since they have been in Karachi.

“The risk of COVID-19 infection is impossible to remove completely from a cricket tour, in spite of the fact that many of our players have been living in bio-secure bubbles almost continuously since before the CPL. This unusual loss of three players from our squad will seriously impact our team preparations, but the rest of the squad are in good spirits and will begin training today ahead of our first game on Monday.”

The series gets underway with the first T20I on December 13, with subsequent encounters on December 14 and 16. The T20Is will be followed by three ODIs from December 18 to 22. Karachi’s National Stadium will play hosts to all the matches, with the T20Is counting towards the ICC T20I rankings, whereas the ODIs will all be a part of the ICC Men’s ODI World Cup Super League, which ensures a direct qualification to the top seven team plus hosts (India) to the 2023 ODI World Cup.