Australia’s Kane Richardson
Australian fast bowler Kane Richardson has been tested for coronavirus after arriving home from South Africa with a sore throat. The right-arm pacer has withdrawn from Australia’s match against New Zealand on Friday. He has been replaced by Sean Abbott and Richardson has been quarantined.
According to a Fox news report, the 29-year-old informed team doctors on Thursday night of his sore throat, which is mild. He was unlikely to play against the Kiwis on Friday anyway and if the test results come back negative, could still feature later in the series.
“Our medical staff are treating this a typical throat infection but we are following Australian Government protocols that require us to keep Kane away from other members of the squad and perform the appropriate tests given he has returned from international travel in the last 14 days,” a Cricket Australia spokesperson said.
“Once we receive the results of the tests and Kane recovers in the next few days we expect he will re-join the team. We will not be making further comment until something changes.” The ODI will be played in front of an empty stadium after Cricket Australia decided to take a cautious approach.
Richardson was bought by Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the IPL 2020 Auctions. Australia take on New Zealand for a three-match ODI series starting here on Friday. It will be played without fans in a bid to control the coronavirus pandemic that has rocked world sport.