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Dr Shuaib Manjra says CSA respects concern, after cancellation of Cape Town fixture

Firdose Moonda04-Dec-2020England have expressed concerns over the integrity of the teams’ bio-secure bubble in South Africa, leaving the ODI leg of their tour in jeopardy, after a positive test for Covid-19 from the hosts’ camp led to the first ODI being postponed on Friday.The match was called off an hour before the toss and has been rescheduled to Monday, with all players and hotel staff to be retested on Friday evening.However, South Africa have yet to determine how one of their players contracted the coronavirus and, although they maintain their confidence that the bio-secure environment works, a further round of tests scheduled for Friday afternoon may decide whether the three matches are able to go ahead.”There is a cause for concern and England has expressed a concern. England are questioning the confidence they have in the bio-secure environment and rightfully so,” Dr Shuaib Manjra, CSA’s chief medical officer, said.”If there has been a player who tested positive in the last week, they have cause for concern and we respect that concern. We met with the English medical team and we have planned out a way. We will retest all players and hotel staff [tomorrow, later brought forward]. We will await the results and determine a course of action and then on Tuesday before the final ODI we will retest the team again.”ALSO READ: First ODI at Cape Town called off after Covid scareSouth Africa’s players have so far been tested five times, three times before the start of the T20I series which revealed two positive cases, and once in between the T20Is and ODIs. Although CSA have declined to confirm the names due to doctor-patient confidentiality, David Miller and Andile Phehlukwayo are widely understood to be the first two players in question.The first player who tested positive did not enter the bio-bubble and isolated on his own while the second was removed from the bubble when he tested positive two days later. Both players tested negative on the fourth round of tests, just before the start of the T20 series last Friday, and rejoined the squad last Saturday.The third positive case was discovered a week later, from a test before the start of the ODIs yesterday, and CSA is unsure how it came about. Heinrich Klaasen was a notable absentee from Tuesday’s final T20I, with his captain Quinton de Kock stating at the toss that he was sick.”This test surprised us because we have confidence in the integrity of the bio-secure environment,” Manjra said. “Further tests indicate that this is a more recent case that occurred within the bio-secure environment. So clearly there seems to be some kind of breach which we have investigated in great detail to try and determined where this happened.The first ODI between England and South Africa at Cape Town was postponed due to a Covid-19 scare•Getty Images

“We have traversed a couple of different spaces, trying to recount some of the events: speaking to the player, looking at security cameras, looking at other information and we haven’t been able to date to identify where the source was but clearly it’s cause for concern.”The situation is understood to have unsettled the England camp, who have been staying at the same Vineyard hotel as the South Africa squad, albeit in separate wings with mixing between the two squads banned. Communal areas have been used on a rota basis and deep-cleaned between whiles, with the hotel staff also staying on the premises. Outside of travel to matches and practice, the teams’ only other authorised departures from the hotel grounds have been for rounds of golf at Boshenmeer, near Paarl, again subject to strict protocols.England’s 24 players, plus support staff, are due to leave South Africa on a chartered flight on December 10. With the prospect of Christmas at home for some members of the squad, and imminent stints in Australia at the Big Bash for others, there is believed to be a reluctance among the players to jeopardise those plans.A scheduled joint press conference between ECB and CSA was cancelled soon after the match had been called off, with Ashley Giles, the team director, later addressing the situation in a statement.”On behalf of the England touring party and the ECB, I would like to thank Cricket South Africa for their collaborative approach to postponing today’s one-day international,” Giles said.”Our number one priority is the health and safety of the England team and management group, and the correct decision was made following discussions between the two boards and respective medical teams.”The England party will remain at its base in Cape Town on Friday and Saturday, and we are hopeful that the three-match series will be played before we depart next Thursday starting with the match at Paarl on Sunday.”In conceding that a player may have breached protocols, Manjra was adamant that no-one was allowed to leave the team hotel in Cape Town unsupervised.”I can categorically state that there is no player who is able to leave the hotel environment by virtue of the fact that there is security around and the security will not allow the player to leave, unless that player is leaving in an assigned vehicle which is an official vehicle with an official driver,” Manjra said.”There is a command centre here led by the Colonel from the Claremont Police Force and they strictly enforce the bio-bubble. They wouldn’t allow anybody to leave.”ESPNcricinfo

However, earlier on in the tour, players did leave for what appear valid reasons. “In fact some players left as a group to go across to the Oval [across the road from the hotel] to train and that became a matter of concern because they had seen it and we had addressed that concern with the Colonel and the command centre. It is impossible for any player or official to leave this.”That revelation gives credence to Manjra’s suggestion that the bubble is not working as intended. “I am fairly convinced that 99% of the time this environment is working,” he said. “There may be a breach that is unbeknown to us. I am not saying there is zero risk. There may be a slight risk. There are a lot of moving parts in a tour such as this and we are trying to control that.”South Africa’s would not be the first breach of protocols in the new normal. Last month, West Indies’ players were barred from training during their period of managed isolation in New Zealand after sharing food and socialising in hallways, while Pakistan were put on a final warning that they would be sent back home after several similar incidents. Pakistan remain in isolation and have not been granted an exemption to train.This is South Africa’s first experience hosting a bio-bubble – the tour is believed to be worth £3 million to CSA – and they are due for three more this summer, with incoming tours scheduled against Sri Lanka, Australia and Pakistan. It is England’s first time in a bubble away from home, having successfully negotiated their home summer with a series of bio-secure environments.

There were half-centuries for Azhar Ali, Fakhar Zaman and Usman Salahuddin as Pakistan enjoyed a gentle workout in Leicester

George Dobell19-May-20181:44

Good to get red-ball practice – Zaman

Pakistanis 321 for 9 (Azhar 73, Zaman 71, Salahuddin 69*) v Leicestershire
ScorecardIf Pakistan are to win a Test series in England for the first time in more than two decades, it seems likely Azhar Ali will need to lead the way with the bat.Without some of those familiar names of recent times – the likes of Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq, who both averaged in excess of 40 as Pakistan drew here in 2016 – it will surely be incumbent upon Azhar to try to replace their runs and provide a steadying influence to a somewhat inexperienced batting order. Now aged 33, and with three centuries and three half-centuries from his previous eight Tests, much is expected of him.So it would have been encouraging to see him some form on the first day of this two-day, non-first-class match in Leicester. After a modest start to the tour – he has a top-score of 15 after five first-class innings – he looked supremely comfortable here in cruising to an untroubled 73. On a sluggish pitch where run-scoring opportunities were not especially plentiful, he saw off the new ball patiently and put away anything short or over-pitched without fuss. Bringing up his half-century from 83 balls with his 10th four – a gorgeous cover drive that would have made Younis proud – he posted 121 for the first wicket with Fakhar Zaman.There is a caveat. Leicestershire are not the strongest of the first-class counties – they finished bottom of Division Two of the County Championship in 2017 without a single win – and this was, effectively, their 2nd XI. Only two of those involved here – Lewis Hill and Ateeq Javid – played in their last Championship match – a victory, to be fair – and only one other member of this side (Dieter
Klein) has featured in the Championship this season. If England were presented with such opposition immediately ahead of a Test series overseas there would be moans and they would not be entirely unjustified.That having been said, there are some decent players involved. Klein, a left-arm seamer who gains skiddy pace from a quick arm, produced the ball of the day to account for Sami Aslam – pitching on line, it held its own to beat the outside edge and take the off stump – and later ended Azhar’s innings. Attempting to cut, Azhar looked aghast when a thick under-edge brought the ball crashing into his own off-stump.Zak Chappell would have strengthened the attack significantly, but sustained a shoulder injury just ahead of the game as he attempted to help his mother with some shopping bags. Which does rather beg the question: what had she bought and how strong is she? It is hoped he may be fit to return as early as mid-week.Fakhar Zaman roars after bringing up his maiden ODI century•Getty Images

Pakistan made a few changes, too. Identifying this game as a rare opportunity to allow some of their squad a game, they rested five likely members of their Test side, with Mohammad Amir reserved for brief bowls at intervals and before play on a pitch on the side of the square.Usman Salahuddin took his chance to impress with a patient half-century but Saad Ali let his frustration get the better of him and was caught and bowled as he tried to make some progress against the spinners. Sarfraz Ahmed also fell in aggressive fashion: trying to repeat a slog-swept six from the previous ball, he gifted a catch to mid-on.Zaman was almost as impressive as Azhar in that opening stand. Having played himself in with impressive patience – his first 75 deliveries realised a modest 34 runs – he then started to unfurl the attacking strokes that will be so familiar to those who saw him in England last year. Richard Jones, a seam bowler of some experience, was thrashed for six boundaries in an over and seven in 10 balls at one stage as Zaman, who struck six of them, made a late – and probably vain – bid for a Test place. He eventually fell to a catch to midwicket trying to thrash one into the Rutland countryside.Impatience cost Faheem Ashraf, who was caught at cover, and Mohammad Abbas, caught at mid-on, and left Leicestershire’s spinners, Javid and Aadil Ali – men with six first-class wickets between them – boasting figures of 4 for 70 from 20.5 overs. It was a pleasing enough way to spend a lovely summer’s day, but you do wonder if it’s like preparing for an Artic hike by nipping for an ice-cream.