Scott Morrison has told Australian cricketers playing in the Indian Premier League they will not be able to return home ahead of other Australians currently stranded in the country, after Western Australia’s premier, Mark McGowan, suggested it was “galling” the cricketers were even allowed to fly to the subcontinent during the pandemic.
The prime minister said on Tuesday the Australian cricketers would have to use their own resources to return to Australia as he announced a temporary ban on all direct flights from India until 15 May. There had been speculation Cricket Australia might have to charter a flight if travel restrictions extended beyond the end of the IPL season.
Morrison suggested the cricketers would not be prioritised when government-organised repatriation flights – which were also suspended on Tuesday – ultimately resumed. He insisted Australians seeking to return from India would be assessed “on vulnerability”.
“They have travelled there privately,” the prime minister said when asked if the cricketers could be prioritised when flights resumed. “This wasn’t part of an Australian tour. They’re under their own resources and they’ll be using those resources too, I’m sure, to see them return to Australia in accordance with their own arrangements.”
New case numbers in India topped 350,000 on Monday. More than a million people have been diagnosed with the virus over the past three days and there have been 2.2 million new cases over a seven-day period.
Cricket Australia and the players’ union, the Australian Cricketers’ Association, issued a joint statement on Tuesday night, saying they were in regular dialogue with players, coaches, match officials and commentators on the ground in India.
“We will assist where possible,” the statement read.“We will continue to liaise closely with the Australian government following today’s announcement that direct flights from India to Australia will be paused until 15 May, and monitor the situation between now and the tournament’s scheduled conclusion on 30 May.”
Earlier on Tuesday, McGowan said there was “huge pressure now on all our quarantine facilities as a result of people coming from India”.
“What makes it more galling is people have gone over there, over the course of the past few months,” the WA premier said.
When asked about Cricket Australia potentially chartering a flight for Australians involved in the IPL, McGowan said it was a “matter for the commonwealth government”.
“You have purpose-built quarantine facilities in remote locations with an airstrip,” he said, offering Christmas Island as an example. “I just urge the commonwealth government to take action and make sure they use the facilities that were made available.”
While the cricketers won’t get special treatment when flights resume, it may be possible for them to charter their own if they negotiate additional quarantine spots with a state or territory above the existing allocations – as happened in Victoria for the Australian Open.
The government’s travel ban places the 30-odd Australian players, staff and commentators involved in the tournament in the same position as the thousands of other stranded Australians in India seeking to find a way home.
The IPL is not scheduled to finish for another month and, given all players and staff are housed in a biosecure bubble, there are no plans at this stage to cancel the lucrative Twenty20 tournament.
Three Australian players have already signalled their intention to leave India – Andrew Tye became the first to head back to Australia on Monday and Adam Zampa and Kane Richardson want to follow suit – but otherwise there appears to be confidence in the relative safety offered by the bubble.
CA and the ACA have been in touch with players in India and most are willing to see the tournament out. But there is concern over how they will get out of India when the need arises – either in the event the tournament is cancelled or at its conclusion in May.
If the commercial flight ban is still in place at that time, alternative travel arrangements would have to be sought to repatriate the Australian cohort.
A total of 36 Australians remain in India – 14 players, 11 coaches, four commentators, two umpires and five support staff, plus one New Zealand commentator who is an Australian resident.
Among the playing group are star players Glenn Maxwell, Pat Cummins, Steve Smith and David Warner, while the likes of Ricky Ponting, Simon Katich, David Hussey and Lisa Sthalekar are also in India working for clubs or in commentating roles.
Not all players are planning to return to Australia at the end of the tournament, with a number hoping to fly on to different destinations across the globe to play in other cricket competitions.
Australian players selected to play in the lucrative IPL travelled to India having signed a no-objection certificate and in the knowledge participation was during their on-leave period and therefore largely outside CA’s jurisdiction.
Travel to and from India was the responsibility of the players and their IPL clubs to arrange, and they were told CA would not provide chartered flights to get back to Australia.
That stance could change given the dire situation unfolding in India, with a “leave no one behind” policy expected to be adopted by both CA and the ACA in the event of difficulties.
The matter is all the more pressing for CA, given the quick turnaround between the end of the IPL and the start of the national side’s tour of the West Indies, which is slated to begin in late June.
