Kiwis hit by Covid on landing

New Zealand Cricket team arrived in Bangladesh on Tuesday noon, and soon after the landing, they heard the shocking news of Finn Allen testing Covid-19 positive.

New Zealand cricket authorities said on Tuesday that their batsman Finn Allen, a member of the visiting squad in Bangladesh, tested Covid-19 positive.

Allen was one of the two cricketers to arrive in Bangladesh early for the five-match twenty20 internationals, beginning on September 1.

The top-order batsman was playing for the Birmingham Phoenix in the first edition of ‘’The 100’’ in the UK before he arrived in Dhaka on August 20 along with team-mate Collin De Grandhome.

Allen is fully vaccinated and passed all his pre-departure tests in England - before testing positive 48 hours after arrival in Dhaka, said New Zealand Cricket.

The NZC said Allen, who is experiencing moderate symptoms, has now been quarantined at the team’s hotel and he is receiving treatment from the Bangladesh Cricket Board’s chief medical officer who has been in contact with NZC’s chief medical officer and will be monitored during his stay in quarantine by Blackcaps doctor Pat McHugh.

“It’s really unfortunate for Finn,” a news item posted on New Zealand Cricket’s website quoted team manager Mike Sandle as saying.

“He’s comfortable at the moment, and hopefully, he’ll recover quickly; test negative and be cleared and approved for discharge as soon as possible,” Sandle said.

“Once he has undergone treatment and the statutory period of isolation and has tested negative for Covid-19 on consecutive days, he will be cleared to re-join his teammates,” he said.

No replacement for the batsman has been announced yet.

The remaining 20 cricketers of the New Zealand cricket team and the support staff arrived in Dhaka on Tuesday on a Singapore Airlines flight.

As they are not coming in a chartered flight, their immigration process was not like the way it was for the Australian team who boarded on buses from the tarmac and left for a bio-secured hotel.

The Cricketers left through the VIP exit of the Shahjalal International Airport and head straight to Hotel Intercontinental.

All Bangladesh national team members except Shakib Al Hasan has checked in to the same hotel on Tuesday.

Shakib, who was in USA, was expected to arrive in Bangladesh on Tuesday Midnight.

For the first time since international cricket restarted in Bangladesh after the covid break, BCB has allowed cricketers to keep their family members along with them to recover from bio-bubble fatigue.

Shahriar Nafees, Deputy Manager of Cricket Operations at the BCB, told The Business Post that players were allowed to take their family members inside the bio-bubble after fully complying with the covid protocol.

“If someone wants to take his family members with him, according to our covid guideline and with permission from the cricket operations department, they can,” said the former cricketer.

Though, out of the 19 members, only three or four have taken the opportunity, said a BCB official with the team.

Now both the team members and accompanying persons will undergo a minimum of three-day in-room isolation.

New Zealand will play five matches against Bangladesh on September 1, 3, 5, 8 and 10.

The matches will be held behind closed doors at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka.