The ICC won’t confine teams in bio-bubbles during the month-long women’s World Cup in New Zealand, CEO Geoff Allardice announced Monday. He called on players to be’sensible’ in the’managed environment’ so that there is no COVID outbreak.
Allardice also clarified that RTPCR tests will not be as frequent as earlier times because they expect players stay clear of potential transmission zones.
The strict natures of bio-bubbles and hard quarantine have already caused mental health problems across sports, and the ICC is well aware. Allardice stated that the strategy revolves around creating a controlled environment for the tournament. It will be infrequent testing. It’s about players accepting responsibility for being in the country for a month, and living away from home for that time without being locked into a tight bubble.
Allardice stated that ”It’s unlikely to be practical” and that it won’t allow teams the opportunity to play their best on field.
He wants players to take responsibility for cases, but the U-19 World Cup has demonstrated that symptoms are not severe.
“There are some guidelines that should be followed, but we are asking teams and players to be sensible and stay clear of areas that could transmit the virus. “The other thing we discovered is that, despite having many positive tests, there was very little people who were showing symptoms. We want to keep people safe and healthy. It’s a significant change from six months back. Even in the event that an outbreak occurs, matches will continue with nine players per side. However, Allardice hoped that things would not get so dire.
It was something we had been forced to do in the months following the Omicron outbreak. Allardice stated that nearly all of our tournaments have been affected by players who are unable to play due to positive COVID tests.
The ICC guidelines for playing conditions already include a nine-player-aside game. It has been in force since the U-19 World Cup in West Indies, where India won its fifth title.
COVID outbreaks were reported at that event with India. At one point, half a dozen infected participants were left.
“I think one of the shifts was that we had quite a close contest in the West Indies with men’s under-19 World Cup, a month ago, where there were many teams that had breaks.
“And I believe we needed to have some contingency planning. We want eleven against eleven. “We have squads of 15, I believe all teams are traveling with some extra reserve players as a contingency,” said the CEO of the ICC.
”…the uncertainty of the circumstances that we were facing made it difficult to announce or implement those protocols. It is a contingency. Allardice stated that she hopes every match goes as planned and that there are no interruptions. It’s been difficult ============== Allardice acknowledged that hosting events for the cricket body has been difficult. ”…at present, the COVID environment is unfolding, so it’s been challenging,” Allardice admitted when asked about the difficulties involved in planning the event in New Zealand where COVID restrictions are among the strictest in the globe.
“The issue of isolation in the lead up a tournament, and quarantine, was something we had in common for the past 18 months, both for international cricket and our events, over the last ninety months.
He said, “It is a challenge because of the fact that we deal in different governments from country to country and they all have different approaches to COVID.”
(This story is not edited by Devdiscourse staff.
