Tom Harrison, the chief executive officer of the England and Wales Cricket Board, has confirmed that although there have been Covid-19 positive cases in both the England camp as well as the Indian, the board will no longer have the same bio-bubble protocols it had one year or even six months ago.
The ECB has decided to do away with strict bio-bubble protocols for the India vs England Test series. The decision comes despite the fact that the camps of both teams have had recent virus cases.
Tom Harrison On Bio-Bubble Protocols:
While the Indian cricket team was dealt with a jolt on the tour of England, with Rishabh Pant and a support staff member testing positive for Covid-19, the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has confirmed that the 5-match Test series between the two nations will be played without strict bio-bubble protocols.
Cricket has been played in a bio-secure bubble since its restart after the unexpected coronavirus break last year but now ECB is doing away with it.
The United Kingdom, in general, is set to quash all Covid-19 precautionary protocols from July 19 and return to the pre-Covid days despite witnessing a soaring number of infections of late. The guidelines of the government are also set to impact the way cricket series or other sporting competitions function in the country.
“We’re in a different scenario to 12 months ago or even six months ago really with respect to how we cope with Covid. We’re really trying to learn how we live with it and create safe environments for people as opposed to bio-secure environments,” Tom Harrison was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz.
“There’s a huge difference between the two. Players are just fed up with bio-security and bubbles and that language we have become so used to using. It’s had such a detrimental impact on mental health for players, time away from families. We are just not able to operate that kind of environment going forward,” he stated.
The suggestion of health experts and after one and a half years of tussle with the Covid-19 virus is that it may stay forever, but the authorities in England are looking to approach the novel virus in a different manner. While there has been criticism over UK PM Boris Johnson’s decision to do away with all the restrictions, the idea behind the verdict is to ‘learn to live with Covid’.
“We have to learn to cope with Covid. We’re going to be living with it now for the foreseeable future so mitigation is the word as opposed to prevention. We think we’ve built in enough protocols now just to try and mitigate the impact of frankly inevitable infections,” he said.
“I think that is where we are trying to ensure that we don’t have instances where entire squads are taken out of circulation because of one or two local infections. So we’re working very hard to make sure those protocols are in place for the remainder of the season. We’ve communicated these protocols to the various camps and various teams and also the international and county environment,” Harrison further said.
Harrison, the ECB chief executive, has defended his board’s decision to relax the bio-secure environments that were a feature of England’s behind-closed-doors campaign in the 2020 home season, arguing that the mental health and well-being of the players in its competitions require the game to “learn to live” with Covid-19, rather than seek to prevent further infections within team environments.
Tom Harrison: ECB Don’t Have The Ability To Create New Guidance That Isn’t Sanctioned By Public Health England Or Central Government
Harrison also confirmed that Public Health England (PHE) has set down the guidelines and ECB simply cannot have completely different guidelines for cricket to take place. While there will be no stringent bio-bubble protocols, there would still be a mechanism in place to ensure that such a situation doesn’t come where the whole squads test positive for the Covid-19.
“We talk to the government all the time. The reality is that the guidelines are set down by Public Health England so we don’t have the ability to create new guidance just for cricket that isn’t sanctioned by PHE or central government.
“So we are living with the current guidelines but it isn’t impossible to operate within the context of those guidelines to have a successful environment,” Harrison asserted.
Speaking at a media briefing ahead of the opening match of The Hundred on July 21, Harrison warned that it was the duty of boards all around the world, and not just in the UK, to take greater heed of the concerns of their players – many of whom have endured months at a time away from their friends and young families in a bid to ensure that the competitions upon which the game’s revenues rely can be safely completed.