CA ‘hopeful’ of full crowds for Ashes series

On Sep 8, 2021

The upcoming Ashes series between England and Australia will ‘hopefully’ be played in front of full crowds despite a rise in COVID-19 cases, Cricket Australia (CA) said yesterday.

Citing rising vaccination rates, Chief Executive Nick Hockley said he was optimistic the series would be played as scheduled and with fans present.

Hockley added they hoped to allow England players’ families to travel. The series is set to start in Brisbane on December 8.

Should the series be played as planned, Australia will be defending the Ashes after they retained the famous urn by drawing the most recent series 2-2 in 2019.

“At the moment, based on vaccination rates, we’re very hopeful we’ll be able to have crowds,” Hockley told Melbourne radio station SEN.

The optimism comes despite parts of Australia currently being under lockdown, including Melbourne and Sydney, the venues for the third and fourth Tests in the five-match series.

With Australia imposing some of the strictest COVID-19 protocols in the world, a number of players have suggested that they may pull out of the tour if they were unable to bring their families with them. (BBC)