England IPL players fly to London, Australia squad to quarantine in Sri Lanka or Maldives

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Eight England cricketers flew back to London on Wednesday as the Indian Premier League (IPL) matches have been cancelled while the Australian players, coaches and other staff associated with various teams will be flown either to Maldives or Sri Lanka for quarantine before they head home.</p>
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The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is reported to have agreed to organise chartered flights for the Australian contingent on both legs of the journey.</p>
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The English members of the Delhi Capitals squad had rushed to Delhi from Ahmedabad to catch a flight to Heathrow after the decision was taken to wind up the tournament.</p>
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Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler, Sam Billings, Chris Woakes, Moeen Ali, Jason Roy and Curran brothers Sam and Tom landed on Wednesday morning, an England spokesman told <em>Reuters</em>.</p>
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"They will now quarantine in government-approved hotels," he said.</p>
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England's limited-overs captain Eoin Morgan, batsman Dawid Malan and all-rounder Chris Jordan would leave India in the next 48 hours, he added.</p>
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The 38-strong contingent of Australian players, coaches, umpires and commentators will have to wait as their home country has imposed a ban on arrivals from India until at least May 15.</p>
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Cricket Australia said it had a plan in place to get them out of India on a chartered flight in the next two or three days.</p>
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"What the BCCI are working to do is to move the entire cohort out of India where they will wait until it's possible to return to Australia," CA interim Chief Executive Nick Hockley told reporters in Sydney.</p>
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"That's now narrowed down to the Maldives and Sri Lanka. The BCCI are committed not only to the first move, but also to putting on a charter to bring them back to Australia."</p>
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"At the moment, the BCCI are very focused on getting all the players, not just the Australians, home safe."</p>
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Chennai Super Kings' Australian batting coach Mike Hussey, who has tested positive for COVID-19, will stay back to complete his quarantine period in India.</p>
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Players' union boss Todd Greenberg said the cricketers were under an "enormous amount of stress" in India.</p>
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"The public will see our best Australian cricketers as almost superheroes … but they are human beings," the chief executive of the Australian Cricketers' Association said.</p>
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<strong>New Zealand players</strong></p>
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While the Indian cricket board (BCCI) has promised safe passage for the players and officials, New Zealand Cricket said all of their players were isolating in team hotels in India.</p>
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An NZC spokesman said captain Kane Williamson and several of his team mates had already been booked to join the rest of the test side in England next month.</p>
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"We haven’t got the finer details of that sorted yet. We’re working now with the English cricket board and BCCI to arrange flights to get them over to England," the spokesman said.</p>