Leg-spinner Adam Zampa is in doubt for Australia’s T20 World Cup clash with Sri Lanka in Perth but despite testing positive to COVID-19, he still may play.
A Cricket Australia spokesman has confirmed Zampa had returned a positive test but is only displaying minor symptoms.
He is still available for selection under tournament rules but he would have to travel to the match at Optus Stadium separately and his contact with teammates and support staff would be limited.
Ashton Agar looms as the likely option to replace Zampa if the team rules him out.
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Players who test positive for the virus are not prevented from competing at the World Cup. Ireland’s George Dockrell played against Sri Lanka on Sunday in Hobart despite his team identifying him as “potentially positive”.
There was uproar when Australian all-rounder Tahlia McGrath played in the Commonwealth Games gold medal match for the women’s side earlier this year in Birmingham while keeping a distance from teammates and opponents.
Australia need to beat Sri Lanka to keep alive their hopes of advancing from the Super 12 stage to the semi-finals following their 89-run drubbing at the hands of New Zealand at the SCG on Saturday night.
Zampa was Australia’s best bowler at last year’s World Cup when Australia won the trophy for the first time.
Adam Zampa reacts during Australia’s T20 World Cup match against New Zealand. (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
Simmons loses Windies coaching gig after early exit
Phil Simmons will step down as coach of the West Indies following their early elimination at cricket’s T20 World Cup, the team has announced.
Simmons will leave after the Windies’ two-Test series against Australia, which runs from November 30 to December 12.
West Indies lost two of their three group games – against Ireland and Scotland – to miss out on qualifying for the Super 12s stage of the World Cup in Australia.
The Windies made their earliest exit from the global showpiece since the inaugural 2007 tournament in South Africa.
“I acknowledge that it’s not just the team that is hurting but the proud nations we represent as well,” Simmons said. “It’s disappointing and heart wrenching but we just didn’t turn up.
“We weren’t good enough and we now have to watch a tournament play out without our involvement. It’s unfathomable and for that I deeply apologise to our fans and followers.”
Simmons took over for his second stint in charge of the West Indies in 2019. In his first, the team won the world T20 title in 2016.
West Indies will face Australia in the first Test in Perth, beginning at the end of November, before travelling to Adelaide for the second match in the series.
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