England team director Ashley Giles on Tuesday defended his players, saying not a single one of them broke the COVID-19 protocols set out by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). Giles remarks come as three England players and four members of the backroom staff tested positive for Covid-19 and as a result, the management had to choose a completely different squad for the series against Pakistan.
The first choice team has been sent into isolation and now Ben Stokes would lead England in the ODI series against Pakistan.
“I’m very confident the players haven’t breached any of those protocols. We can’t say where it (the virus) originated, but we can identify how some of this has developed through close contact. We haven’t gambled. I don’t believe we’ve gambled at all. We are fully aware of the risks and we are aware of the knife-edge that we are working on all the time,” ESPNcricinfo quoted Giles as saying.
