Australia’s ODIs against West Indies to restart on Saturday after negative COVID-19 results

The One Day International series between West Indies and Australia is set to resume on Saturday, July 24. On Friday, Cricket West Indies confirmed that all 152 members, who were tested for COVID-19 on Thursday, returned negative results.

The Ministry of Health officials in Barbados gave confirmation on the same. On July 22, the second ODI of the three-match series couldn’t take place after a non-playing member of the hosts’ unit contracted the coronavirus.

Thereafter, as per the protocols, the members from both teams went into isolation and the game had to be suspended. The development came to the fore after both teams announced their playing elevens following the toss at the Kensington Oval.

It has been a challenging two days: Cricket West Indies president

In the meantime, its’ been learned that the third and final ODI will take place on Monday, July 26. The decision was taken after CWI had meetings with Cricket Australia, Government of Barbados officials and the Barbados Cricket Association.

“We are happy to be able to announce the restart of the CG Insurance ODI series at Kensington Oval tomorrow. We want to thank our counterparts at CA for their co-operation in this matter as we look to get the games going again,” CWI president Ricky Skerrit was quoted as saying, Sportskeeda reported.

“It has been a challenging two days and we have worked very swiftly and safely, following all the established medical protocols, to make sure that all necessary precautions are in place to ensure that we can go ahead to resume play safely, tomorrow. We will continue to monitor the situation and respond accordingly,” he added.

In the second ODI, fast bowler Riley Meredith is set to make his ODI debut after he forayed into T20 cricket earlier this year. The speedster replaced Wes Agar, who played the first match, in the playing eleven. Meredith also played in the five-match T20I series that the Aussies lost 1-4.

The Aussies have started the ODIs on a grand note, winning the first game by a mammoth margin of 133 runs. After the Caribbean tour, Australia are scheduled to tour Bangladesh for a T20I series. The team is set to reach Dhaka later this month.