Yahoo News Joe Root must self-isolate after his wife gives birth, leaving him a doubt for first West Indies Test
Joe Root will have to self-isolate for seven days after attending the birth of his second child, casting major doubt over his chances of playing in the first Test against West Indies.
Root’s wife is due in the first week of July with the Test at the Ageas Bowl starting from July 8. Root has confirmed he will attend the birth but under strict guidelines laid down by the England & Wales Cricket Board, it is understood he will have to self-isolate at home for seven days before he can rejoin the squad. The ECB are constantly reviewing their lockdown procedures and may relax them as the summer goes on but Steve Elworthy, the board's events director, said this week they will begin at the highest level of alert.
If Root has to isolate at home it means he will be unable to even go for a net on his own away from the other players. If, for example, his child is born early, Root would go into the match, his first competitive game of cricket since February, having had his preparation severely disrupted. It increases the likelihood of Ben Stokes captaining England for the first time.
England will trim their squad of 55 down to around 30 for an inter-squad practice match at the end of June which is when the players will go into lockdown at the Ageas Bowl.
The selectors will then cut the squad again to 20, giving England nine back up players to call upon in case of injury or illness. The series will be the first anywhere in the world since the lockdown. The teams are set to be able to use Covid substitutions, calling up a like for like replacement if a player goes down with symptoms during a match.
The West Indies are due to leave the Caribbean on Monday for the tour, arriving into London before transferring to Manchester to stay at Emirates Old Trafford where they will quarantine and practice for three weeks before moving to the Ageas Bowl.
Three players - Darren Bravo, Shimron Hetmyer and Keemo Paul - turned down the tour due to Corona virus fears and their absences will hurt West Indies according to Michael Holding.
"The West Indies board, before they were even confirming the tour, had told everyone and the entire public that they would not be forcing anyone to go on this tour," Holding said on his YouTube channel. "If any player decided they weren't absolutely sure about going on tour, they weren't confident of proceedings they could opt out. And these three guys have opted out.
"I think it's unfortunate as far as West Indies cricket is concerned. I'm not going to tell anyone that they should be going to England because Covid-19 is around, someone may get sick or even worse. But at the same time I think it's unfortunate for the West Indies team because these guys have quite a bit of talent, and they'll be missed."
