‘Issue isn’t so much the teams as crowds’ – Australian minister on T20WC hurdles
Reflecting on the challenges ahead of the country as it gears up to host the T20 World Cup, Australia sports minister Richard Colbeck said that flying teams into the country wouldn’t be as much of a hassle as would hosting the tournament in packed venues.
Australia is among the countries that have been the most successful in controlling the spread of Covid-19, but all that could change if travel restrictions are lifted and people from countries more severely affected enter Australia for the T20 World Cup.
Though still five months away, the likelihood of a return to normalcy in international sport is unlikely, and Colbeck, speaking to SEN Radio, reflected on the challenges ahead. “I’d love to see an Australia-India Test series this summer and I’d really like to be able to see the World Cup go ahead, but that will be quite a complex protocol to bring that number of countries in from around the world,” Colbeck said.
“The issue [for the World Cup] is not so much the teams as the crowds, and that’s probably one of the hurdles we really have to consider and probably one that world cricket will look at pretty closely as well.
“We all know the difference in atmosphere when you see a filled stadium, versus one that’s empty. They will be some of the broader considerations, but in a team sense, I’d like to think that we can build some protocols with the cooperation of the sport and the players, that’s going to be extremely important, with appropriate quarantine and bio-security protocols to see if we can make the competition go ahead.”
Speaking further on what those protocols might look like, Colbeck said: “Those conversations are being had, discussions about what the protocols might look like. They will be difficult because one of the things that has been a key part of our success is that we limited access to Australia from areas where there were significant outbreaks of Covid-19 and that’s contributed to the low rate of spread we have now. But we would have to be prepared to consider appropriate plans put forward by the various codes.
