Former England captain Michael Vaughan has slammed Australian Test skipper Tim Paine for his lack of empathy towards England players.
Last month, Paine had said that the Ashes would go ahead even if Joe Root and other England stars don't come to Australia.
Notably, several England players had expressed concerns over the prospect of hard quarantine due to Australia's international and internal border restrictions.
“The Ashes are going ahead. The first Test is on December 8th, whether Joe is here or not,” Australia's captain had said on SEN sports radio.
"They'll have a choice to make, you either get on that plane or don't. No one is forcing you to come. If you don't want to come, don't come. There will be a squad of England players coming here," Paine added.
Vaughan weighed in on Paine's comments and said that the latter needed to show some empathy as a Test captain.
“As a Test match captain, you have to show a bit of empathy. In the last two years, he hasn’t taken his team overseas. He hasn’t had to go through what these England players have gone through. He hasn’t gone through what Joe Root has gone through. He plays only one format of the game. I do believe he showed a bit of lack of class,” Vaughan told ABC Sports.
“I don’t think that went down well with the players. There is a huge amount of respect between the two sides. And particularly, anyone that’s captain of an international side, I personally think he didn’t need to say what he said,” he added.
Meanwhile, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) on Friday (October 8) confirmed that England's Ashes tour of Australia will go ahead as scheduled subject to "several critical conditions being met".
The Ashes 2021-22 is slated to begin on December 8 at the Gabba, Brisbane.
"To facilitate further progress and allow a squad to be selected, the ECB board has met today and given its approval for the tour to go ahead,” ECB said in a statement.
"This decision is subject to several critical conditions being met before we travel. We look forward to the ongoing assistance from Cricket Australia in resolving these matters in the coming days.”
