MELBOURNE, Aug 8: Cricket Australia’s interim CEO, Nick Hockley has said the board will do everything that they can to host the Boxing Day Test match against India at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).
Melbourne has seen a spike in coronavirus cases and is in Stage 4 lockdown with several restrictions in place. With the current situation, it is being speculated that the Boxing Day Test during India’s tour later this year could be shifted to Adelaide.
“In terms of Boxing Day, it’s one of the most iconic events on the Australian sporting calendar. Certainly, at this stage, we are planning full steam ahead. As long as circumstances allow, we will be doing everything we can to play the Test at the MCG,” Hockley was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au.
“It comes down to if we can get a crowd at the MCG, we’ll play at the MCG. There’s a long way to run, over four and a half months; [I] think it’s very premature to be talking about this,” he added.
While Hockley said that Cricket Australia is months away from having to make a final call, he also mentioned that the board had to be “agile and flexible” with their plans for not just the four-test, three one-day match tour by India but the entire domestic and international schedule.
“We are having to remain agile, certainly we’re looking at contingency planning across the entire summer. Not necessarily specific to certain matches, but our entire events,” he said.
“As things change we’re doing everything we can and we have all the back-up arrangements to make sure we get cricket played,” he added. (UNI)
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