Australia's star batsman Marnus Labuschagne is hopeful that England will come with a full-strength squad for the upcoming Ashes 2021-22 later this year with talks ongoing between the England players and Cricket Australia (CA) and England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).
At the moment, the Ashes series remains in doubt due to Australia's current strict COVID-19 restrictions, which are unlikely to allow England players' families to join them on the Ashes tour over Christmas, which may force many players to consider pulling out of the tour.
England players, especially multi-format will have to stay away from their families for 3-4 months before the Ashes, as they will be participating in the IPL 2021, ICC T20 World Cup 2021 before the Ashes, and Jos Buttler has already made it clear that he would likely pull out of the series if his family is not permitted with him on Australia tour and Joe Root is likely to follow the path.
Well, Labuschagne has admitted England players’ concerns about traveling to Australia without their families but has “no doubt” that a compromise will be reached over Australia’s strict COVID-19 rules to allow the Ashes to go ahead as planned this winter.
He hopes that the CA, ECB, and the Australian government will work things out so that the Ashes go ahead later in the year while acknowledging it is important to take care of the players' mental health.
Labuschagne is quoted as saying by cricket.com.au at the launch of Play Cricket month in Brisbane: “The welfare of players and making sure families can come out here is important. You don't need to be a cricketer to recognize the importance of making sure the mental health of all players is in a good space.”
He added, “Especially with a Twenty20 World Cup followed by Ashes, it's a really long four or five months. But I have no doubt, between the government and Cricket Australia, we'll be able to sort it out and get ourselves in a position where we can have a full-strength England against a full-strength Australia. Everyone out here wants to see Jimmy (James Anderson) come to Australia.”
Labuschagne signed off by saying, “We all want more Test cricket. That's not always possible.”
