West Indies Tour of New Zealand : West Indies cleared to train following quarantine protocol breach
West Indies contingent
The West Indies contingent ran into trouble early in their New Zealand tour after players were found in breach of the government’s quarantine protocols. Following the incident, New Zealand’s Ministry of Health had banned them from training and were only allowed otherwise only after three rounds of COVID testing.
The visitors were granted exemptions to enter the country as borders are currently open only for returning citizens. They were even allowed to train while being in larger bio-bubbles but their unruly behaviour saw them lose four days of training. The Windies will now travel to Queenstown for two warmup games ahead of the first T20I on November 27.
It is embarrassing
West Indies coach Phil Simmons apologised on behalf of the players. He shares that he is embarrassed by his players’ unruly behaviour. Simmons went on to add how valuable the four days of training they lost. He adds that the start for them is slower than they expected coming off from such a big break.
“I have to apologise to the New Zealand public and the government who have allowed us to come here,” Simmons told Newshub. “It’s embarrassing from our point of view.”
“We were just getting to the levels that we would normally start at, but coming from no cricket, we had to start slower,” he said.
Earlier today, New Zealand Cricket shared that all the players of both the sides have arrived from the previous commitment in the Indian Premier League. The statement further added that all players have passed the preliminary health scan and will be spending the next two weeks in isolation before they join their respective times in training.
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Anshuman Mahapatra
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