The traveling Red Force players bound for the Super50 Cup in Antigua cleared their first COVID-19 test on Friday.
“We had the test on Friday and everybody has been cleared,” head coach David Furlonge confirmed to Guardian Media Sports on Sunday. Furlonge also said the six players who are at home are expected to have second test either Wednesday or Friday of this week before they depart for Barbados bound for Antigua on Saturday.
Nine of the 15 players on the squad are either in Dubai for the Abu Dhabi T10 Tournament starting on Thursday or on the tour of Bangladesh.
When the Red Force arrives in Antigua, they will be in room quarantine for the first two days. Thereafter, for the next three days, the players will be able to come out of their rooms for a short while and gather only in small groups.
“The protocols are very good. It is ensuring the players and staff are safe while they are in Antigua,” Furlonge said of the arrangements.
He added that the bio-secure bubble could actually work in his team’s favour given that the players will be together all the time thus enhancing the bonding and chemistry in the squad. Just as well, with the Red Force carrying a star-studded line-up, the majority of the 15-man squad including the likes of captain Kieron Pollard, Darren Bravo, Nicholas Pooran and Jason Mohammed all have experience within a bio-secure bubble environment.
“All of these players are professionals. They might be more mentally prepared for it as they have been in that situation before and maybe that will even help the concerns of some players who have never been in a bio-secure bubble before,” Furlonge added.
The six players who are at home will undergo a fitness test today at the National Cricket Centre in Balmain, Couva in accordance with Cricket West Indies (CWI) guidelines. Furlonge said he will be giving specific focus to the batsmen and bowlers in the last week of practise before they jet off for the tournament.
He said, “I have two main batsmen here who are Darren Bravo and Denesh Ramdin and then we have two all rounders in Khary Pierre and Imran Khan so I’m going to try to get them enough time in the middle and also for the bowlers to be working on certain deliveries during the period of practise this week.”
Furlonge has also been keeping an eye on the Bangladesh tour where T&T’s left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein has been one of the highlights for the struggling West Indies in the One Day International (ODI) series. The parkite took four wickets in his first two matches and will be joining the Red Force squad in Antigua for the Super50 Cup.
While Furlonge thinks Hosein can develop into a genuine all rounder once he continues to work on his batting, he believes regional players will be weary of what they have been seeing of him on the sub-continent.
“I think some of the batsmen around the region are probably watching his performances in Bangladesh and they might be a little worried now when they have to face him which is a good thing for us,” Furlonge said.
The Super50 Cup is set to bowl off on February 7 in Antigua.