The third Test is scheduled at the Melbourne Cricket Ground
(MCG), while the fourth and fifth games of the Ashes series will be played at
the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) and Hobart, respectively.
Cricket Australia (CA) chief executive Nick Hockley on
Tuesday confirmed the heightened levels of protocols to be implemented from the
Boxing Day Test onwards, saying the level had been raised from three to four
given the evolving COVID-19 situation.
Australian captain Pat Cummins had to miss the second Ashes
Test at the Adelaide Oval after he had come in contact with a COVID-positive
person while dining out.
“So (for Boxing Day), we’ll be going up from our protocol
level 3 to Level 4," Hockley told SEN Breakfast on Tuesday.
The third Test is scheduled at the Melbourne Cricket Ground
(MCG), while the fourth and fifth games of the Ashes series will be played at
the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) and Hobart, respectively.
The COVID-19 situation is evolving differently in different
states of Australia. The opening Ashes Test was played in Brisbane (Queensland)
with the state COVID-free at that time before it moved to Adelaide (South
Australia), where too the virus wasn’t prevalent.
But looking at the situation in Victoria and New South
Wales, which are averaging thousands of COVID-19 cases daily, the protocol
level has been raised.
“We’ve had different levels of protocols depending on the
risk environment… even before the Pat (Cummins) situation, Melbourne and Sydney
were higher on the risk level than Brisbane and Adelaide and that was due to
the number of cases in the community," said Hockley.
“Really the main difference (between Level 3 and 4) is that
we ask players to avoid big crowded indoor public settings. They can still go
out, still go to the beach, still go to the park. They can still go out for
dinner, but we ask them to dine outside and in small groups so if there is
another hotspot, the whole group is not caught up. So we’re trying to strike
that balance between making sure everyone has a great quality of life but also
we’re able to keep the series going," added Hockley.
Cummins has since returned to the squad and will lead the hosts in the third Test at the MCG after he has regularly tested COVID-negative.