On Tuesday, Sports minister Richard Colbeck revealed that Perth may not be able to conduct an Ashes Test match over Australia’s home summer due to the ongoing COVID-19 restrictions and protocols which puts the last test match at risk. The safety and precautions for every player are of utmost importance by the organisers and the cricketing board. The final Ashes test match was supposed to commence from 14th January onwards in Perth, but Colbeck said that it might be a big miss for the Western Australia capital because of the quarantine requirements of the state, mostly ruling out the last test match.
On Perth radio 6PR, Sports Minister Richard Colbeck addressed that players do not want to quarantine for another 14 days in the Western Capital but will be required if they are playing the fourth test match which is scheduled to be played in Sydney. Richard Colbeck also mentioned, “We’ve had to do a lot of work to organise quarantine arrangements for cricketers coming into Australia”. He further added by saying “If there’s no chance of coming here without prolonged quarantine, it just won’t occur,” reports Reuters.
Western Australia cricket boss Christina Matthews, also mentioned that the sports governing body has asked Cricket Australia (CA) to push the Perth test match forward to avoid the quarantine stages and protocols respectively. The Ashes Test Match will commence from the 8th of December in Brisbane, followed by a second test match in Adelaide on the 16th of December, with Melbourne hosting the third test match on the 26th of December, concluding with the fourth test match on the 5th of January held in Sydney.
