West Indies-Australia ODI Series Set To Resume After Everyone Tested Negative; New Dates For Remaining Matches Announced

The ODI series between West Indies and Australia is set to resume with a tweak in the schedule. The second ODI will now be played on Saturday and the third ODI, originally scheduled for Saturday, is shifted to Monday.

This announcement of the series resuming comes in after all the 152 people involved in the series tested negative on Friday.

On Thursday, the second ODI was suspended moments before the first ball was to be bowled as one non-playing member of the West Indies squad returned a positive covid-19 test.

Alex Carey, the stand-in skipper for the injured Aaron Finch, had won the toss and elected to bat first. Australia, who handed Riley Meredith his ODI debut cap, were set to take the field before the game was halted.

Now, the second ODI on Saturday will resume from the same position of Australia having won the toss and the same playing elevens of both teams. The visitors are currently leading the series 1-0 after Mitchell Starc tore through the West Indies batting line-up with a five-wicket haul.

“We are happy to be able to announce the restart of the CG Insurance ODI series at Kensington Oval tomorrow. We want to thank our counterparts at CA for their co-operation in this matter as we look to get the games going again,” Ricky Skerritt, Cricket West Indies President said.

“Special thanks to our CEO Johnny Grave, Chairman of Cricket Australia, Earl Eddings, his CEO Nick Hockley along with our respective medical and operations teams. I appreciate the crucial role of the BCA and the Government of Barbados for working closely with CWI to ensure everything is in place for resuming the series.

“It has been a challenging two days and we have worked very swiftly and safely, following all the established medical protocols, to make sure that all necessary precautions are in place to ensure that we can go-ahead to resume play safely, tomorrow. We will continue to monitor the situation and respond accordingly,” he added.

After the delay of a couple of days in the conclusion of the ODI series, Cricket West Indies will have discussions with the Pakistan Cricket Board about possible modifications to the T20I series which is due to start on Tuesday. Australia will be taking a charter flight to Dhaka as they take on Bangladesh in five-match T20I series next month.