The fast bowler from Australia Kane Richardson has been quarantined after reporting a sore throat on March 12 (Thursday) night. The Australia squad arrived at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Friday for the first ODI against New Zealand without Richardson as the authorities decided to keep the latter in isolation in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.
After returning from South Africa tour with the Australia squad earlier this week, Kane Richardson informed the medical staff of the Australian team last night of the complaint and has been tested for COVID-19, according to Cricket Australia. Kane Richardson is reportedly feeling fine and will immediately come to the ground if tests return a negative result.
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“Our medical staff are treating this as a typical throat infection but we are following Australian Government protocols that require us to keep Kane away from other members of the squad and perform the appropriate tests given he has returned from international travel in the last 14 days,” a Cricket Australia spokesperson said.
“Once we receive the results of the tests and Kane recovers in the next few days we expect he will re-join the team. We will not be making further comment until something changes,” the spokesperson added.
Meanwhile, Australia have called in Sean Abbott as a replacement of Kane Richardson. On the other hand, Cricket Australia have decided to host the three-match series on empty stands to prevent the pandemic to spread.
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On March 11 (Wednesday), the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared COVID-19 (novel coronavirus) a pandemic. The novel coronavirus has halted many global sporting events. As the numbers say,118 countries have been affected by COVID-19, classified as a respiratory illness. More than 120,000 people have been infected with over 4,300 deaths worldwide. In India so far, 73 people have been infected with no deaths as yet.