Sydney cluster forces Windies-bound stars into travel rejig

Sydney's COVID-19 cases will not prevent the Australian stars still in the city from flying out to the West Indies next week for crucial T20 World Cup preparation after a late logistical rejig.

Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Moises Henriques and Adam Zampa are among the NSW-based members of Australia's white-ball squad that were set to link up with teammates in Queensland on Saturday ahead of a chartered flight to the Caribbean on Monday.

The Queensland-NSW border closure means they will instead be a virtual presence at this weekend's team meetings then fly out on Monday, when Australia's 20-strong touring party depart on a chartered flight for a limited-overs series in the West Indies that begins on July 9.

Queensland Health's rules dictate that travellers from a hotspot are allowed to stopover then fly out, provided they remain in the airport.

Sydney-based players sitting out the upcoming tour, such as Pat Cummins, Steve Smith and David Warner, will also miss out on the chance to catch up with coach Justin Langer in person.

The change won't affect the preparation of fast-bowling duo Starc and Hazlewood who, alongside other members of the squad, have already been vaccinated against COVID-19.

The gun pacemen weren't expected to train this weekend, having blown out the cobwebs while bowling during a visit to Brisbane last week.

But Sydney's growing cluster has served as a reminder of the difficulties involved with planning amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The late change comes after Bangladesh Cricket Board officials went public to confirm they'd have strict biosecurity measures in place for Australia's visit in late July and August.

Jalal Yunus, the BCB media committee chairman, told local reporters in Dhaka: "It is the same bio-bubble that we had for West Indies and Sri Lanka. (CA) asked us to address certain pockets in the hotel where outsiders were allowed, like some of the restaurants. Those will be closed during the course of the Australia tour."

The BCB is yet to formally announce the dates and venues for the tour as the host nation, but reports said five T20s would be played in Dhaka from July 29.

The coronavirus outbreak in Sydney comes after the UK tabloids claimed families of the England players might be unable to accompany the Test squad for this summer's Vodafone Ashes series.

England wicketkeeper Jos Buttler told the Daily Mail that reclaiming the urn would be a "huge challenge" without families.

It is unlikely that England will be confronted with such a scenario.

"It's only June and England are not due to arrive until November," a Cricket Australia spokesperson told Nine, adding that formal negotiations with the federal government had yet to begin. "We'll be going through the same process we did with India last summer."

India's enlarged touring party for last summer included the families of Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara, and Ravichandran Ashwin, and CA would hope to achieve a similar outcome for England.

But at this stage it remains unclear what restrictions would be placed for both squads, whose battle for the urn will run from December 8 until January 18.

Quarantine arrangements and biosecurity protocols for the Ashes rivals, who will both take part in the Twenty20 World Cup before flying to Australia, are yet to be finalised.

Test skipper Tim Paine noted last week that a fortnight of hotel quarantine "can be quite draining" after a tour.

"We've got guys who have done that six or seven times. That's 14 or 15 weeks out of a year sitting in a hotel room by yourself," Paine said.

"It's certainly an issue, there's no doubt."