The ashes will only continue if enough leading English players go around Ashes

In a statement on Monday, the ECB said the board will make a decision on the tour later this week after Cricket Australia has further negotiated living conditions and quarantine provisions for Covid.

It will be followed by a meeting on Sunday night with players, support staff, the ECB and Cricket Australia, which finally shared the details of what the tour will look like. Although a particular source was said to have made some progress during the sensitive discussions, significant issues clearly remain.

The end result is that many multi-format players, including Jos Buttler, Jonny Bairstow, Mark Wood and Chris Woakes, will fly to Oman on Monday night to begin preparations for the T20 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates. is away from home.

In the coming days, with more information back and forth between the two boards, the English players will have to decide whether to make them available for Gabba’s five-match series starting on 8 December. Silverwood, head coach and chooser, will nominate the team this week.

Australian captain Tim Paine said recently that the series will continue regardless of which players England choose. But the ECB has a clearly different view on this, and its latest update suggests a cancellation or postponement if its men’s team weakens significantly.

The ECB statement read: Over the weekend, we have been discussing with the English men’s players and management to get them the latest information on the proposed arrangements for this summer’s planned Ashes tour.

We will continue our regular and positive dialogue with Cricket Australia on these arrangements as the image continues to evolve. With health and well-being at the forefront, we focus on ensuring that the tour can proceed in the best possible way for players and management conditions. We will continue discussions with our players this week to share the latest information and get feedback.

Later this week, the Executive Board of the ECB will meet to decide whether the conditions are sufficient to continue the tour and allow the selection of a team from this major series.

The main problem with quarantining family members seems to remain in place, but CA is working to reassure English players that Australia is currently setting strict limits when the country’s vaccination rate reaches 80 per cent by the end of November. will change.

England assistant coach Paul Collingwood summed up the camp’s feel in his Instagram post before the white balls left for the T20 World Cup.

Collingwood wrote: I love my job and am so excited about the coming cricket winter, but saying goodbye to your daughters for possibly 3 months is not easy no matter how hard you are.

We all make sacrifices in our lives. I look forward to meeting with the team tomorrow because I know we will try to help each other like family.