Very confident our players didn’t breach protocols: Ashley Giles, England Team Director

England’s Men’s team Director, Ashley Giles backed his players after several of them tested for Covid-19 on Monday, July 5 and reports came out on Tuesday, July 6. A former England player himself, Giles said that the players haven’t broken any protocol whatsoever. 

"I'm very confident the players haven't breached any of those protocols. We can't say where it [the virus] originated, but we can identify how some of this has developed through close contact,” Giles was quoted as saying by Espncricinfo. 

Saying that the games are not only involving players and playing but are also seen as sources of revenue generation from cricket. Giles impressed upon the fact that ECB or the England team hasn’t gambled by compromising the protocol.  

"We haven't gambled. I don't believe we've gambled at all. We are fully aware of the risks and we are aware of the knife-edge that we are working on all the time. We are trying to look after our people and keeping them sane while protecting the revenues of the whole game. It is a difficult balance to strike,” said the 48-year-old. 

Giles defending the ECB’s relaxed protocols saying that if the entire society opens up, there is no way that players can remain autoimmune to everything around them.

"Let's stop talking about relaxed protocols. If we haven't got sole use of hotels, if we have grounds with crowds and you have staff coming in and out of the environment then, however much testing you do, there is going to be a risk. We are seeing an almost impossible situation as society opens and the virus is still spreading,” Giles defended.  

Setting priorities right for the next assignment, Giles continued, "During this period - these next six games - I think we are going to have to tighten up the environment. It is unlikely that we'll have [family] visits into the hotels. Previously those visits were very carefully risk-assessed and arduous, actually.”

“We are dealing with difficult circumstances and there is still a bit of unknown. We probably won't sleep easy until we have got through those PCR tests and arrive in Cardiff,” promised the former left-arm spinner, now tasked to battle it out against a virus for his nation. 

The ECB already announced a totally different team from the one that played against Sri Lanka, to face Pakistan. The first match of the three-match ODI series against the Babar Azam team would be played on July 8th at Sophia Gardens Cardiff. England would be led by Ben Stokes.