Even if West Australia’s draconian 14-day quarantine requirements haven’t yet officially put a nail in the coffin of the Perth Test, Cricket Australia’s minds may be made up for them.
Veteran cricket journalist Peter Lalor believes the Australian and English players as well as the broadcasters will be heaping pressure on CA in a bid to avoid two weeks of isolation.
West Australian Premier Mark McGowan confirmed yesterday that the quarantine rules for entering athletes, staff and broadcasters would be identical to the AFL Grand Final, despite rising vaccination rates.
Lalor outlined how the situation has unfolded behind the scenes.
“The tone of conversation started to change last week at Cricket Australia in their conversations with broadcasters and others preparing for this Test,” he told SEN Mornings.
“It had been, ‘we’re dealing with this, we’re dealing with this, we’re dealing with this, oh god we can’t cope with this’, it’s really depressing isn’t it? Especially for West Australians and WA cricket.
“They’ve got that fantastic stadium, they’ve got the facility next door at the WACA and this will be the second year in a row they have actually missed out on Test cricket.
“They just don’t want it. You heard the Premier there. Even the sports minister is on the front page of the local paper saying that it would be a bigger blow to have COVID-19 run riot in the community than to miss out on a Test match.
“It kind of shows you where the West Australian perspective is coming from. They must look at us over in the eastern states and see that we’ve been living through hell for two years and they’ve had the windows open and had it easy. That’s their attitude and it’s not going to change.”
Australian players have been isolating in Queensland after returning from their victorious T20 World Cup campaign.
Lalor adds that the players have been doing so begrudgingly and will not be isolating again this summer.
“I think (Cricket Australia is) coming to the conclusion they can’t play it (in Western Australia) and let’s cast our minds back a month ago and England was absolutely determined about the quarantine situation, well the Australians have joined them too,” Lalor said.
“The message is coming down from the Gold Coast, the players were rewarded for their World Cup victory with two weeks quarantine in Queensland which didn’t sit very well with them.
“They were saying if they had come back to New South Wales or Victoria, they’d be free people. They’ve just emerged yesterday.
“I’ve heard them say, ‘not one more hour of quarantine. We’re just not doing it this summer’.
“There’s a lot of things piling up and the broadcasters won’t want to go there either. Even if Cricket Australia hasn’t made their mind up it’s going to be made up for them.”
The First Test gets underway on the 8th of December at the Gabba.
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