Indian Players' Families Given Clearance By UK Government To Tour England 

An encouraging piece of news for the Indian cricketers – both men and women – is that the UK government has given its clearance to allow the families of players, coaching and support staff, to accompany them on the upcoming England tour.

A charter flight will carry both the male and female squads, along with their families, and will land in London on June 3. From there, both squads will move to Southampton, where they will serve the required quarantine period, the duration for which is not yet confirmed.

Virat Kohli’s men’s team will be on tour for more than three months: the World Test Championship final against New Zealand is from June 18th, and the 5-Test series with hosts England is scheduled from August 4 to September 14. The Indian women side are due to play a one-off Test – their first in 7 years – followed by 3 ODIs and 3 T20Is.

According to a report in ESPNcricinfo, the female side, following the quarantine, will then move to Bristol, where they begin the campaign with the Test match against the hosts. The men’s team, too, is expected to start training at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton in a controlled manner post-quarantine.

India-New Zealand WTC Final given an exemption by the UK government

On May 29, the ICC had announced that the WTC final had been given an exemption by the British government from standard Covid-19 protocols – conditioned that everyone involved following the guidelines put in place.

The UK government had put India on the red list of countries, from where all travel is banned, since April; only British citizens were allowed to enter and were placed in a mandatory 10-day quarantine period – such as the English players who returned home after the IPL 2021 was suspended.

Crowds might also be expected to be in attendance, though partially, for the marquee clash.

“As per the bio-safety protocols established for the event, in line with UK government and Public Health England requirements, the Indian Men’s team will arrive in the UK on 3 June 2021 via a charter flight and carrying evidence of a negative PCR Test,” the ICC said in a media release on May 29.

“Prior to travelling, the party will have spent 14 days in a bio-secure environment in India during which regular testing will have taken place. Upon landing, they will proceed directly to the on-site hotel at the Hampshire Bowl where they will be tested again before commencing a period of managed isolation.

“Regular tests will be conducted during the period of isolation. Players’ activity will be allowed in a gradually increasing manner after each round of negative testing, moving from exercise in isolation to small group and then larger squad activity, whilst always remaining within the bio-secure venue,” the statement further added.