Premier batsman Steve Smith claims that Australia will like to play the fourth Test match of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy at the Gabba despite the hard quarantine rules in Brisbane. The Queensland entered into a three-day coronavirus-forced lockdown casting fresh doubts on the fate of the fourth Test, which is scheduled to start from January 15.
It is after a cleaner at a quarantined hotel in Brisbane has tested positive for the highly contagious UK variant of COVID-19, prompting the state government to take drastic action.
The lockdown was announced less than 24 hours after top cricket board officials from India and Australia were engaged in a discussion on the relaxation of hard quarantine measures for the visitors.
Smith said nothing changes for them as players and they will wat for the decision.
“To my knowledge, not anything is changed from our point of view, we will wait and see and that is not our decision to make, we are the players and we go where we are told and do what we need to do, but we would like to play at the Gabba for sure,” Smith said.
He was speaking at a press conference at the end of the second day’s play in the third Test, in which he roared back to form with a fine century.
There has already been a speculation that the visitors will refuse to travel to Brisbane for the final Test of the series beginning January 15, wanting to avoid the Queensland government’s strict biosecurity protocols.
“We are going to go hard and we are going to go early to do everything we can to stop the spread,” Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said Friday.
“This is incredibly serious. We are declaring that Greater Brisbane area a hotspot and I’m also asking my colleagues from other jurisdictions to also declare Greater Brisbane a hotspot until we get through this together,” Palaszczuk said.