England players may skip Ashes if families not are allowed to travel – Reports

If reports are to be believed, England players and the England and Wales Cricket Board will soon have a discussion and a call will be made on whether the players can be able to travel with their families for the high-octane Ashes slated to begin on December 08. 

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The Australian government’s strict COVID-19 protocols and its subsequent travel restrictions are making things difficult for the England team to get their loved ones travel along during the five-Test matches. Australia has to resort to strict lockdown in certain parts of the cities due to a surge in positive COVID-19 cases. The government is not planning to ease the restrictions for the time being.

With both Australia and England set to compete in the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup as well to be held in November, few English players might be in both squads. This could make things problematic as the players might be away from their loved ones for close to four months.

If reports in BBC are to be believed then, Cricket Australia (CA), its government, and the England Cricket Board (ECB) will soon give an official statement regarding the changes in the Ashes series Down Under. "It's only June and England are not due to arrive until November,” a CA spokeswoman told the Sydney Morning Herald. "We'll be going through the same process we did with India last summer."

Former England captains Michael Vaughan and Kevin Pietersen are already not in favour of the players travelling without their families Down Under. The former also spoke in favour of cancelling the Ashes if the families are not allowed to travel.