England pacer David Willey has tested positive for COVID-19, his Yorkshire county club confirmed. The Yorkshire Vikings have suffered a major setback after skipper Willey tested positive and three other players came in contact with him. They all have been isolated from the team which are currently partaking in the T20 Vitality Blast.
Disclosing the names of the four cricketers, Yorkshire confirmed that Matthew Fisher, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Josh Poysden and David Willey have been advised to self-isolate for 14 days.
This means they will miss out on the remaining matches of the league stage in the ongoing tournament. Willey had earlier revealed he had to overlook an IPL opportunity to captain Yorkshire Vikings in The Blast T20 series.
David Willey has confirmed he tested positive for COVID-19
Willey took to his twitter handle to confirm he and his wife have tested positive for COVID-19. Since the other three players namely Fisher, Tom Kohler, and Poysden were in close contact with the couple, they will also be serving a mandatory 14-days quarantine period.
David tweeted, “Thank you for all the kind messages. My wife & I received positive COVID test results. Gutted to be missing the remaining games. Even more devastated that having been in contact with the other 3 lads Sat morning (before we had symptoms) means they’re at risk & unavailable too.”
https://twitter.com/david_willey/status/1306315849347796999
The health and wellbeing of the players and support staff is the club’s primary responsibility: Yorkshire’s Lead Physiotherapist
Yorkshire’s Lead Physiotherapist Kunwar Basil has said they are disappointed about losing four key players of the squad but their main priority is the players’ and support staff’s health.
“Although it is disappointing that we will be without four key players, we have a duty of care to the wider squad and others. The health and wellbeing of the players and support staff is the club’s primary responsibility, as well as protecting the opposition, the integrity of the competition and playing our part in keeping the wider community safe,” Bansil said as quoted by Yorkshire website.
The Yorkshire County Club is currently placed at the fifth position in the points table of North Group with six points. The club has only managed to win to matches out of the eight played yet and have played two draws and faced f0ur losses. The Vikings have to play two more matches in the league stage of the T20 tournament, against Lancashire Lightning on September 17 and Derbyshire Falcons on September 20.