T20 Blast: Yorkshire's David Willey and three other players sat outside the stadium in hope of negative COVID result before the game against Lancashire

The ‘new normal’, after the long break because of the pandemic is very different. Everything is changed and cricket is no exception to it either. The players have to be in a bio-secure bubble, they have to get tested regularly and have to follow all the protocols implied by the cricket boards. T20 Blast, the prime T20 league of England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), witnessed a very interesting incident on Monday.

Yorkshire’s team had to take the field without four senior players, including captain David Willey, for their match against Lancashire at Headingley. They ended up on the losing side as the opposition, Lancashire took advantage of their weakened side and won the game by six wickets.

After the game, Yorkshire coach Andrew Gale revealed that the four men – Willey, Matthew Fisher, Tom Kohler-Cadmore and Josh Poysden – were still waiting outside Headingley shortly before the game started. Notably, one of them was tested for COVID-19 and the results for the same were awaited.

As per the protocol, as the other three of them came in contact with the player tested, outside the bio-secure bubble, they cannot come inside the bubble till the time that player doesn’t test negative for COVID-19. “We were hoping one of the four lads would have their test back, which would have enabled the rest of them to play. They were sat outside the ground until 5.30 pm waiting on a text, but unfortunately it didn’t come,” Gale said while speaking to The Guardian.

“With the guidelines in place, the physios and club doctor said they couldn’t take part in the game unless that one person is tested negative,” the 36-year-old said. “Unfortunately, it didn’t come through.” “The family member had symptoms, but that player has come into contact with the other players outside our cricket bubble,” he added.

A mountain to climb for Yorkshire

After the heavy defeat against Lancashire, Yorkshire has a mountainous task in front of them to reach the quarter-finals. Yorkshire made a strong start with the bat, reaching 62 for one after six overs, but a flurry of cheap dismissals saw them finish on 145/9 with Matthew Parkinson and Luke Wood taking three wickets apiece.

While chasing, captain Dane Vilas played brilliantly and took his side home quite comfortably. They were restricted to 77/4 after nine overs but the commendable efforts from the skipper took them to the victory with 13 balls to spare. Notably, Yorkshire has won only two of their seven games till now.