Auckland: The West Indies cricketers have been banned from training after they were caught breaking multiple quarantine guidelines. According to reports, New Zealand health authorities have CCTV footage of the players breaking the rules and sharing meals and mingling in groups.
As a result of the breach, the cricketers will now have to spend the remainder of their quarantine period in hotel rooms which ends on Friday (November 13). “As with other sports teams that have come to New Zealand, the West Indies cricket team were given certain exemptions from the managed isolation rules which apply to everyone else,” Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield said in a statement.
“In return they have to stick to the rules. They didn’t do that, despite agreeing to abide by the parameters of the exemption. Keeping COVID-19 out of our communities and keeping our staff safe depends on it. They didn’t do that, despite agreeing to abide by the parameters of the exemption,” he said.
“We’ve written to our players to emphasise the importance of following the protocols, It’s a huge blow to our preparation,” Cricket West Indies chief executive Johnny Grave was quoted as saying by Australian Associated Press. “My disappointment is our players are the maybe the most experienced in the world at dealing with these strict quarantine measures,” he added.
West Indies are to play three T20Is and two Tests during their tour of New Zealand which is scheduled to start from November 27.
