Windies cleared to leave isolation after covid19 breach

ALL members of the West Indies team have returned negative results from their third and final covid19 tests, conducted on day 12 of the ongoing tour of New Zealand.

Cricket West Indies (CWI) may have been concerned about the latest results after some players broke the quarantine rules at the bio-secure facility.

Earlier this week, some Windies players were seen, via video footage from the facility, sharing food and socialising with fellow team members outside of their bio-secure bubbles.

At the time the West Indies were split into two bubbles and were not allowed to share food with team members that were in another bubble. Due to the breach, West Indies were not allowed to train for a few days, but will resume training this weekend.

West Indies will now travel to another part of the country for practice matches.

According to CWI, “The players, management and support staff are scheduled to leave managed isolation on Friday and travel to the southern town of Queenstown, where they will play a three-day match and a four-day match against New Zealand “A”. These matches will be on November 20-22 and on November 26-29 at John Davies Oval.”

Captain Kieron Pollard and the other West Indies players who competed in the Indian Premier League have now joined their team-mates.

“Additionally, all of the West Indies players who arrived in Auckland on Thursday following the end of the Indian Premier League in the United Arab Emirates, have passed initial health screening checks,” said CWI.

“They are to spend the next two weeks in isolation in preparation for the first T20 International which will be played at Eden Park in Auckland on November 27.”

The second T20 match will be played on November 29, followed by the third and final T20 match on November 30.

The T20 series will start with the defending World Cup champions facing the Black Caps at Eden Park in Auckland for a match under lights. The series then moves to Mount Maunganui for two matches at the picturesque Bay Oval – the first a day match and the second under lights. West Indies will then travel to Hamilton for the first Test at Seddon Park from December 3 and then south to Wellington for the second match at the historic Basin Reserve from December 11.