Prior to the second Test match against the West Indies, Australia’s team has been impacted by Covid-19. On Wednesday, coach Andrew McDonald and all-rounder Cameron Green became the most recent members of the team to contract the virus.
Following the conclusion of the first Test match in Adelaide last week, which the home team won by ten wickets, they were ill after batsman Travis Head contracted COVID-19.
After testing negative, he will play in Brisbane on Thursday when the second Test series, which is a day-night match, begins.
Unless they feel too sick, Green and McDonald are also expected to be involved in the match.
“Cameron Green and Andrew McDonald will be separated from the group until they return a negative test,” Cricket Australia said in a statement.
“It will not hinder Green taking part in or McDonald attending the match in line with CA protocols.”
Players who do not receive a negative result within the next 24 hours are still permitted to compete according to Covid protocols, but they must remain isolated from the other players.
Australia will start the encounter unaltered after Usman Khawaja, who was hit in the head late in the Adelaide game, passed concussion tests.
The team’s experience with pink-ball Tests, according to captain Pat Cummins, should work in their favor.
“No doubt playing a pink-ball Test almost every year, and some Shield cricket over the years with the pink ball, helps us familiarise ourselves … perhaps better than oppositions can, just by experience,” he told reporters.
