West Indies players barred from training in New Zealand after coronavirus protocol breaches

West Indies have arrived in New Zealand for a series consisting of three Twenty20 Internationals and two Tests which will be played in Hamilton and Wellington. Currently, the West Indies are put up in a facility in Christchurch as they complete their isolation. However, even before a ball is bowled in the cricket series, there has been controversy with the West Indies players having their training privileges revoked. The reason - several team members breached COVID-19 biosecurity protocols in their Christchurch isolation facility according to  New Zealand’s Ministry of Health.

The team are due to be released from the facility on Friday, pending the final round of COVID-19 testing, but breached their protocols on several occasions by sharing food or mingling in corridors. The Ministry said there was no risk to the public.

"As with other sports teams that have come to New Zealand, the West Indies cricket team were given certain exemptions from the managed isolation rules which apply to everyone else," Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield said in a statement. "In return they have to stick to the rules. They didn’t do that, despite agreeing to abide by the parameters of the exemption."

Tight restrictions

Bloomfield added their training exemption had been revoked and they would remain in isolation until they are released. West Indies management did not immediately respond to a request for comment. New Zealand Cricket said they had stressed to the visitors they needed to abide by the restrictions placed upon them. New Zealand has successfully curbed the spread of the coronavirus after introducing a strict lockdown and tight border controls.

Almost all the country’s small number of current cases are among people arriving from overseas, who are held in mandatory managed isolation facilities for 14 days. The squad had their third and final COVID-19 tests on Wednesday and will be released on Friday, where they will head to Queenstown for warmup matches.

In the previous tour of New Zealand, West Indies did not win a single match on tour, losing the Tests 0-2, ODIs 0-3 and the T20Is 0-2 with one game getting abandoned.