Fifth Test to go ahead after India return negative Covid results: England v India 2021

Fifth Test to go ahead after India return negative Covid results: England v India 2021

BBC

The fifth Test between England and India is set to go ahead on Friday after no further positive Covid-19 tests were returned by the tourists.

India cancelled an optional training session earlier on Thursday in Manchester after another of their coaching staff was found to have Covid.

Head coach Ravi Shastri tested positive during India's fourth Test win.

Negative results were returned after fresh tests on Thursday, the England and Wales Cricket Board confirmed.

Earlier in the day, India players had been told to stay in their hotel rooms after having fresh tests on Thursday morning, with a spokesperson for the team telling BBC Sport "everyone is being tested regularly".

India lead the five-Test series 2-1, having won the fourth Test after Shastri tested positive.

Three other members of the India backroom staff - bowling coach Bharat Arun, fielding coach Ramakrishnan Sridhar and physiotherapist Nitin Patel - isolated after Shastri's positive as a "precautionary measure".

Indian media are reporting that the latest positive was in close contact with the players in the last Test.

The fifth and final Test starts at Emirates Old Trafford on Friday, with players then immediately leaving to play in the rescheduled Indian Premier League in the United Arab Emirates from 19 September.

England wicketkeeper Jos Buttler, who will return to the side after missing the fourth Test for the birth of his second child, said the hosts prepared for the game on the assumption it would go ahead.

"Things are all fine in our camp - we trained well this morning," he said.

Shastri's result was the first known positive since the series began on 4 August, but India wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant and training assistant Dayanand Garani tested positive pre-series.

England have been staying in different hotels to India, and the only interaction the teams have had has been on the field of play.