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England cricketers mulling to boycott Ashes series in Australia, here's the reason why

The upcoming Ashes series between Australia and England, which is scheduled to begin in Australia at the end of this year, faces a major scare as several top English players are mulling to boycott the high-profile serie

England cricketers mulling to boycott Ashes series in Australia, heres the reason why

London, Sep 16: The upcoming Ashes series between Australia and England, which is scheduled to begin in Australia at the end of this year, faces a major scare as several top English players are mulling to boycott the high-profile series. As per reports, several top England cricketers are unhappy with the strict quarantine rules in the country and don't want to be confined to their hotel rooms for close to four months.

According to an ESPN Cricinfo report, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) are still adamant to go with the lucrative series and have not thought about the postponement of the same which has irked the senior players and support staff.

"The prospect of England fielding a significantly under-strength squad in the Ashes would appear to have grown following talks between the team and officials at the ECB," the website reported.

The ECB's refusal to even countenance a partial or even complete postponement of the tour has left the players and support staff disappointed.

"As a result, they are considering their options. One of those options is understood to be the entire team - including coaching and support staff - taking a collective decision to boycott the tour.

"While the players appear, in general, fairly sanguine about the prospect of a two-week quarantine for themselves, they are reluctant to put their families through it. And with some players away for the best part of four months (the IPL being followed by the T20 World Cup and the Ashes), they are understandably reluctant not to see their families for the entire period," it stated.

The players are also irked with the type of quarantine that the authorities in Australia are going to put in place.

"The nature of the quarantine is also understood to have disappointed the players. Although there has been a talk of allowing them the use of a resort hotel on the Gold Coast, it is now understood they are likely to be permitted only two or three hours out of their hotel rooms each day for training.

"There is also a possibility the squad will be obliged to remain in some sort of 'bubble' throughout the tour to avoid difficulties in moving between states. Families, meanwhile, could still be required to undergo a 'hard' quarantine involving 14 days in a hotel room," it also reported.

Earlier last year, Indian cricketers too had to go through similar hard quarantine and bio bubble when they landed at the Australian shores for the highly-anticipated four-Test Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Indian players stayed in the strict bio bubble for more than two months to ensure none of the players contract the deadly virus and the entire series goes smoothly.

Story first published: Thursday, September 16, 2021, 12:26 [IST]
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