CRICKET IRELAND HAS temporarily suspended elite men’s training after a player who had been using one of its four training hubs returned a test which was positive for Covid-19.

The player in question is a close contact of players using other hubs and so the governing body has halted training across the country “for a few days” while further tests are undertaken.

Richard Holdsworth, Cricket Ireland’s high performance director, said: “As soon as we were notified of the test result, we called an immediate halt to elite men’s training across Ireland. The player in question will be re-tested to ensure this is not a false positive. We want to ensure the risk of Covid-19 is minimised in line with our return-to-training protocols, and have always said that the health and safety of our players and coaches must come first.”

While the player was only using one of our four training hubs, he had been a close contact with players using other training hubs – so out of an abundance of caution we have stopped training for a few days across all hubs while tests are undertaken.

“We have a busy period of cricket in May, and World Cup Super League matches set for early June, so it’s vital that we provide our senior players with as much time outdoors training as we can. However, this will not come at the risk to their health and safety, and that of their families or close contacts.”

“We will provide an update on the player’s condition and training status in due course.”