As their third round of Coronavirus testing also proved negative, West Indies players and support staff were on Thursday (November 12) cleared to leave their quarantine hosting facility in Christchurch, confirmed New Zealand Cricket (NZC).
New Zealand's Ministry of Health had banned the tourists from training after they breached the bio-security rules designed for the tour. But now having received sanctions and clearing the testing hurdle, they'll on Friday (November 13) travel to Queenstown for two warmup games before the first of three T20Is on November 27.
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The NZC has also informed of the initial health screening checks that New Zealand and West Indies players arriving from UAE post the IPL 2020 have passed in Auckland. These cricketers will isolate for two weeks at a facility in Christchurch.
West Indies head coach Phil Simmons has already apologised for his players' breach of the important regulations. The protocols being broken had led to the withdrawal of the training exemption that the visitors had been granted.
The health ministry had allowed West Indies players to train in small groups while completing their quarantine. But that call was taken back after it was discovered that the players had shared food and socialised together.
"I have to apologise to the New Zealand public and the government who have allowed us to come here. It's embarrassing from our point of view." Simmons told Newshub.
Due to the breach, West Indies lost four precious days of training, only delaying the process of regaining full fitness upon return to cricket since July when they toured England for Test matches.
"We were just getting to the levels that we would normally start at, but coming from no cricket, we had to start slower," said Simmons.
The first warm-up fixture on November 20 will see the visitors locking horns with a New Zealand A side including three of the Kiwis players in contention for the Test series, starting December 3.
The team will boast of uncapped Will Young, Devon Conway and middle-order batsman Henry Nicholls. Young has just returned from shoulder surgery while South Africa-born Conway got qualified to play for New Zealand in August.
(Inputs from Reuters)
