The second Ashes test is underway, having kicked off December 16th and continuing through until December 20th. England will be looking to even the scores after losing the first test.
Hours before the test began, Australian captain Pat Cummins was ruled out of the game as a result of being a close contact with a Covid-19 case. As a result, Travis Head is stepping up as vice-captain and Michael Neser will debut.
In a tweet, Cummins said he was “Gutted to miss this Test”.
Gutted to miss this Test but really excited to see Neser finally get his chance in the baggy green. He has done the hard yards and is a seriously skilful player. Super frustrating but COVID has thrown us all some curve balls over the last couple of years. Will be cheering along!
— Pat Cummins (@patcummins30) December 16, 2021
“Cummins was dining in a restaurant last night and did not breach any biosecurity protocols. He isolated as soon as he became aware of the situation and has since had a PCR test, which produced a negative result,” Cricket Australia said in a statement.
“We anticipate that he will be available to play in the third Vodafone men’s Ashes Test at the MCG in Melbourne.
“Cummins is understandably very disappointed not to be able to captain Australia for the day-night Test in Adelaide.”
Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon were eating at the same restaurant, but SA Health deemed them casual contacts because they were at a separate table outside.
Free-to-air coverage will be on Channel Seven. England all-rounder Lord Ian Botham and Australia’s all-time leading Test run-scorer Ricky Ponting will lead the live and free coverage on Seven.
Also on The Ashes coverage is comedian Stephen Fry, 2019 Ashes fast-bowling hero Jofra Archer, ex-Test player and leading commentator David “Bumble” Lloyd, and former star off-spinner Graeme Swann.
Returning to the Seven cricket commentary team in 2021-22 are Damien Fleming, Simon Katich, Mel McLaughlin, James Brayshaw, Lisa Sthalekar, Greg Blewett, Matthew Hayden, Brad Hodge, Trent Copeland, Tim Lane, Alison Mitchell, Callum Ferguson, Abbey Gelmi, Jason Richardson, Andy Maher, Alister Nicholson, and Erin Holland.
Fox Cricket’s coverage will be led by Adam Gilchrist, Shane Warne and Isa Gua and also feature Mark Waugh, Mike Hussey, Brett Lee, Kerry O’Keeffe, Mark Howard, Michael Vaughan, Kath Loughnan and Allan Border.
Two new Kayo original series’, The Rundown and Kayo Clubhouse – both hosted by Gogglebox stars Adam Densten and Symon Lovett – are also streaming on Kayo now.