All first-choice Sri Lanka players test Covid-19 negative

In a welcome sign for both Sri Lanka Cricket and the BCCI, all first-choice Sri Lankan players, who have returned from the UK have tested covid-19 negative in the latest round of RT PCR testing in Colombo, PTI reported.

"Normally, the moment we get any positive result we announce. There has been another round of RT-PCR tests conducted yesterday and the results were supposed to come today. We only get the results if there is any positive cases.  Since we haven't got any positive report, which we normally receive by mid day, it can be presumed that all players have tested negative," PTI quoted an unnamed BCCI official as saying.

The report also suggested that the players will soon be allowed to go for the outdoor training in the next 48 hours and will be shifted to a biosecure bubble where they will be able to train for the series against India.

"If all goes well, the UK-returned players would be able to come out of their hard quarantine and enter the bio-bubble. The robust testing is expected to continue as per norms," the source added.

Two members of the contingent that came back from England such as the batting coach Grant Flower and an analyst tested positive for the virus after arrival in the country.

Those two cases and subsequent stringent protocols forced the BCCI and the SLC to postpone the ODI series originally scheduled to start on July 13 to July 18.



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Mitchell Marsh doesn't want to get into 'headlines', says all not lost for Australia in T20 series

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Kent XI player tests positive for COVID-19, whole team put into self-isolation for 10 days

COVID-19 proved to be the nemesis yet again in a cricket tournament as an unnamed Kent player of their first XI team has tested positive for the deadly virus and has been forced to isolate himself along with the rest of the team members. The Kent team management has decided to field a fresh squad for the match against Sussex. They will field a second XI team with Heino Kuhn taking the charge. Meanwhile, the new-look squad will also feature in two of the vitality T20 games against Middlesex and Sussex with the quarter-final berth already secured. The positive case came out after an RT-PCR test which was administered on Saturday. The news was broken by the county through a media release. The player who has tested positive will now undergo a 10-day self-isolation starting from 10th July. The other members of the squad who was part of the Vitality Blast games on Friday night have been deemed as close contacts of the affected player and will need to quarantine themselves for 10 days. "With the emergence of the Delta variant and recent release in lockdown restrictions, the Club has been conscious of the increased possibility of an outbreak," Kent CEO Simon Storey said. "Overnight, the Club has worked swiftly to identify a replacement squad that will be ready to take on Sussex in the much-anticipated Canterbury Cricket Week, and will also be preparing for the final two matches of the group stages of the Vitality Blast, with a quarter-final berth already secured,” he further added.

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Brad Hogg picks his India playing XI for T20 World Cup

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Shoaib Akhtar lambasts team management, favours Hasan Ali over Babar Azam as Pakistan captain

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