Ind vs Aus: Players to train in Melbourne before moving to Sydney, says Hockley
Dec 30, 2020
Sydney [Australia], December 30 : Cricket Australia interim Chief Executive Officer Nick Hockley on Wednesday confirmed that Team India and Australia will not travel to Sydney on New Year's eve and will stay in Melbourne for a couple of days.
The teams will start their training for the third Test in Melbourne and will arrive in Sydney approximately 72 hours before the match.
"Last night's announcement was that we are proceeding to Sydney and we are putting our plans in place to do that safely," said Hockley in a virtual press conference.
"The players will be in Melbourne for a few more days training there, before moving to Sydney a couple of days ahead of the Test match," he added.
Cricket Australia on Tuesday confirmed that the third Test between Australia and India will remain at the Sydney Cricket Ground as scheduled, adding that the decision was made after several days of meetings that considered the impacts of the recent COVID-19 outbreak on the northern beaches of Sydney.
"As a part of the process we have been working very closely with the Queensland government and also with the health officers so we had very detailed discussions over the last week," said Hockley.
"We had done all through this summer and had a contingency plan in place in Melbourne which gave us the time and opportunity to decide," he added.
Hockley said the cricket body wanted to give Sydney the best chance of hosting the third Test and that is why the final decision was made at the 11th hour.
"We wanted to give Sydney, the very best chance to able to go ahead and so on. We are taking the best advice from all the stakeholders. So it's been a detailed process and we had always said that will make the decision final after the Boxing Day Test and that's the time we needed to act on our all plans," Hockley said.
India levelled the four-match series on Tuesday at the Melbourne Cricket Ground and the win also ensured the visitors moved a step closer to the final of the World Test Championship. The third Test between both teams will begin on January 7.
