Well, a frustrating scenario for everyone involved in trying to make this series happen as well as the fans following along at home, but hopefully all other PCR tests from the West Indies and Australia squads come back negative. Be sure to stay logged on to ESPNcricinfo over the next 24 hours for all the latest developments to find out when the series may be able to resume. That’s all for now, I’m Peter Della Penna. Take care!
3.15 pm Cricket West Indies have just issued this statement: “The second CG Insurance ODI between West Indies and Australia has been postponed due to a positive COVID-19 test result from a non-playing member of the West Indies staff. This decision was taken after the toss at Kensington Oval once the result was known .The established COVID-19 protocols stipulate that all members of both teams and match officials will return immediately to the team hotel and will be re-tested later today. They will remain in isolation in their hotel rooms until their PCR-Test results are returned .
A decision on when the match will be replayed will be made at a later date once all the test results are confirmed.”
According to the local radio broadcast, the groundstaff has just placed the covers back on the pitch to cover the entire square. So the match has been “postponed”, not canceled.
3.00 pm Former West Indies bowler Ian Bishop, who is part of the TV broadcast commentary team, has put this out a tweet. It’s the first comment from anyone affiliated with the host production.
2.42 pm Breaking news. The second ODI has been suspended due to a positive Covid test.
2.30 pm Start of play is delayed. The TV broadcast has said it is due to an “operational issue”. No idea what that means, nor how long the delay will be. It is bright and blazing sunshine at Kensington Oval.
In the mean time, you can check out what’s happening over on commentary for the men’s debut match in The Hundred between the Oval Invincibles and Manchester Originals. If you were worried that the cricket world would short-circuit akin to a Y2K bug doomsday scenario, fear not.
Isaac Marshall: “Roston Chase would usually be in over Mohammed, I guess as Mohammed is his back-up on the bench, they thought it was fair he play.”
Tye: “I understand Mohammed gives Pollard an extra option with the ball but Hetmyer has a far more superior ODI batting record than him. Don’t think Hetty should have been dropped”.
FrustratedWi Fa: “Who in their right mind would take Hetmyer out of the team instead of someone who has barely had any good performances like Mohammed?”
2.00 pm Australia have won the toss and chosen to bat first.
Australia XI: 1 Ben McDermott, 2 Josh Philippe, 3 Mitchell Marsh, 4 Moises Henriques, 5 Alex Carey (capt/wk), 6 Ashton Turner, 7 Matthew Wade, 8 Mitchell Starc, 9 Riley Meredith, 10 Adam Zampa, 11 Josh Hazlewood.
One change for Australia. Wes Agar comes out and Riley Meredith comes in to make his ODI debut.
West Indies XI: 1 Shai Hope (wk), 2 Evin Lewis, 3 Darren Bravo, 4 Jason Mohammed, 5 Nicholas Pooran, 6 Kieron Pollard (capt), 7 Jason Holder, 8 Alzarri Joseph, 9 Hayden Walsh Jr, 10 Akeal Hosein , 11 Sheldon Cottrell.
One change for West Indies too. Straight swap at the top of the order as Shai Hope returns from injury and comes in for Shimron Hetmyer. Hope will take the gloves today too making Pooran a specialist batsman.
1.30 pm Good afternoon and welcome to today’s ESPNcricinfo coverage of the second ODI from Barbados between West Indies and Australia. I’m Peter Della Penna and will be joined a bit later by Andrew McGlashan.
Tuesday we saw a pair of five-wicket hauls. Hayden Walsh Jr grabbed his maiden five-for in West Indies colors in the first innings, but it was a devastating new-ball spell from Mitchell Starc in the chase that led to his eighth ODI five-for in a Player of the Match performance as Australia walloped West Indies by 133 runs. Can the West Indies bounce back less than 48 hours later? Here’s Gnasher’s match preview.
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