Englands Ashes boycott threats unhelpful to families request

A public campaign by England’s cricketers demanding their families are allowed to tour Australia this summer, in the face of ongoing border restrictions due to COVID-19, is in danger of backfiring.

There have been ongoing claims in the UK media this week that some players had threatened to pull out of the much-awaited Ashes tour if their families are not given permission by the Australian government to also enter the country.

England captain Joe Root watches the post match presentations after Ashes victory by Australia in 2019.Credit:Getty

That morphed into suggestions of the entire squad not touring on Friday when the London Telegraph reported England’s senior cricketers are pressing the England and Wales Cricket Board to issue an ultimatum to Cricket Australia and, by extension, the federal government, by saying that the side will not contest the Ashes if their players cannot take families.

Though unwilling to comment publicly on the ongoing negotiations, multiple sources in Australian cricket and the federal government told the Herald and The Age that the English campaign is “counterproductive”, “unhelpful” and “tone deaf”.

“This is certainly not from the best practice handbook of government negotiations,” one official said. “We’re fully aware of the situation.”

There are numerous factors for the government to consider regarding exemptions for any inbound travellers to Australia, not least the the fact that 11,000 Australians are currently stranded in the UK attempting to get home.

The Telegraph report claimed Cricket Australia is due to update the ECB in the next week about the protocols the Australian government will want in place for the Ashes.

“England’s senior players want CA to know in advance their position about refusing to tour without their families, and for Tom Harrison, the ECB chief executive, to support them,” the Telegraph report said.

A column in the Telegraph by former Ashes-winning England captain Michael Vaughan a day earlier claimed if England could not take it’s best team to Australia this summer, the Ashes should be postponed.

The campaign is particularly embarrassing for the England Cricket Board, which received a $150 million favour from Cricket Australia last September with an unscheduled three-match one-day tour to help bail the ECB out following a COVID-ravaged season.

Michael Vaughan celebrates England’s shock Ashes triumph in 2005.Credit:AP

A Cricket Australia spokeswoman said: “Cricket Australia continues to work closely with the ECB and government authorities in Australia regarding the upcoming Ashes series, which will be the centrepiece for one of the biggest summers of cricket on record.

“With the Ashes four months away, we are currently planning the operational requirements of this tour and working with the ECB on the proposed make-up of the England touring party.

“As was the case last season, CA will work constructively and in partnership with government to deliver the summer of cricket, while ensuring the health, wellbeing and safety of the community.”

There were long and winding negotiations last year before approval was given for India’s cricketers to be joined by their families.

This was made more difficult by the fluctuating COVID situation in various states throughout the tour and sudden or threatened border closures.

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Chief Cricket Writer

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