Australian captain Tim Paine says he expects most of England’s leading players to make the trip for this summer’s Ashes series, while revealing Scott Morrison has also been keeping tabs on progress.
While the series was never seriously in danger of being cancelled, there was the prospect of England sending an under-strength team, with leading players concerned about quarantine arrangements in Australia.
That appears to have been resolved through a series of meetings among the English players, including a session with Cricket Australia boss Nick Hockley this week. Captain Joe Root has now indicated he’ll be making the tour.
The Australian captaincy has long been jokingly referred to as the second most important job in the country, after the Prime Minister, and Paine revealed he’d been in touch with Mr Morrison over the prospects of the Ashes going ahead.
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“I’ve had a little bit of contact with him, he always touches base to see how it’s going, and he was keen to find out what the sticking points might be from a player’s perspective,” Paine said on SEN Hobart.
“I’ve shared a few text messages with the boss. He loves it, loves his cricket.”
The first Test is two months away, and the ECB said on Monday it would meet “later this week” to make a final decision.
According to the Australian skipper, we can expect a near full-strength English side to make the trip.
“I don’t think they’ve guaranteed they’re coming yet, but what I’m hearing out of England is really positive,” Paine said.
“I think Joe Root has spoken to the players, our CEO Nick Hockley was on a call with some of their players and the feedback from that was really positive.
“Most, if not all, things that have been asked for have been delivered.
“The positive news I’m hearing is that a lot of their players will commit, might be one or two that don’t, I think we’ll see a really strong English side come out.”
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