The Ashes 2021-22 that is scheduled in December-January is in jeopardy because of Australia’s refusal to allow families of English players to travel with them or easing quarantine rules.
Australia’s borders are effectively closed in an attempt to control COVID-19 with restrictions on international arrivals and limited places available in the country’s mandatory quarantine rules.
England players are seeking assurances their family members will be allowed to join them in Australia during the five-test series in December and January.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has asked his Australian counterpart Scott Morrison to ease the quarantine restrictions and allow the families of England players to travel to Australia.
“I raised it and he said he was going to do his best for the families. He totally got the point that for cricketers it is very tough to ask people to be away from their families over Christmas. He merely undertook to come back and see if he could find a solution,” Boris Johnson told to reporters in Washington.
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) said that they were confident of the Ashes going ahead as scheduled on December 8 in Brisbane despite the chances of a few players refusing to travel without their families.
Australia is expected to ease restrictions by the end of 2021, when at least 80% adults are estimated to have taken two doses of COVID-19 vaccine. However, COVID-free states of Queensland and South Australia have said that they will open the borders much later.
(WIth Reuters inputs)
