Australian left-arm pacer Mitchell Starc lives on the northern beaches of Sydney, where a spike in COVID-19 cases has been reported. Starc had gone back home for a family illness and came back just in time to play the first Test.
Starc was on the beaches on December 11, when the rise in cases was seen but he left New South Wales to join the Australian team just in time.
Cricket journalist Peter Lalor told Channel 7, "He is out there by the skin of his teeth. If Starc hadn’t gone into a self-imposed isolation last Friday, he would probably have been pulled from the field today."
He also revealed that Cricket Australia (CA) had to specially request the South Australian government to let Starc stay despite being in the affected area.
Lalor said, "CA had to go to the South Australian government and request special permission for him to stay because he was in the area where people are being asked to go into isolation."
"So he would have had to go back to the hotel, wouldn’t be playing in the match at this stage if it wasn’t for Cricket Australia’s COVID bubble that they have instituted," he added.
CA's self-imposed restrictions have received a lot of criticism but now the effect can be seen as Mitchell Starc could be allowed to play just because he followed those restrictions.
"There have been a lot of people grumbling and moaning about these self-imposed restrictions from Cricket Australia, but we can see now the volume of them. It has allowed him to stay in this game and hopefully will allow the cricket to continue," Lalor mentioned.
(With inputs from Daily Telegraph and Channel 7)
