Australian captain Pat Cummins wasn’t sure how to channel his anger after a fellow diner was found to be Covid positive, forcing him to miss the second Ashes Test in Adelaide. Cummins had been dining with his friend Harry Conway, who plays for BBL franchise Adelaide Strikers, at an Adelaide restaurant ahead of the second test when a patron at the nearby table was identified as having a positive case of Covid. “I (was) really mad, but I don’t know who,” said Cummins, who is captain again in the Boxing Day Test, quoted by ‘The West Australian’.
“No one was to blame. Once it became clear that the state rules apply, you have to follow them.”
Cummins had tested negative after an RT-PCR but was asked to isolate himself under Covid rules in South Australia, forcing him to withdraw on the morning of the Adelaide test.
“We knew it could explode at some point in this series. I didn’t think – or hope – that it would be me,” said the 28-year-old, who missed a home test in about five years.
“You stick to protocols but there was (was) hardly any Covid around so I didn’t consider it at all until the guy next to me showed up and said he was positive.
“Nobody’s done anything wrong. The poor guy just flew to Adelaide to try and enjoy a few days of cricket – I really felt sorry for him too.”
Cummins’ teammates Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon are also said to have missed the game because they were due to join him for dinner at the same restaurant, but as the skipper didn’t check his phone for 40 minutes, the two ate separately.
“They came in angry – they kicked a stench and sat in the back,” he said of Lyon and Starc.
“It’s just one player, it’s slightly bigger news because it’s Covid and the captain, but it’s not the end of the world, it’s not a huge change.”
Cummins thought he would make it, but when he saw the Test match on TV, he got angry again.
“Then after about an hour (of watching the test on TV) I was pretty angry, I wish I was back there,” he said.
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“But it was good. It was a different perspective.”
Australia leads the series of five tests 2-0.
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