News

David Willey tests positive for Covid-19, ruling three Yorkshire team-mates out of Blast group games

Willey revealed on Twitter that he was the Yorkshire player who tested positive

Matt Roller
Matt Roller
16-Sep-2020
David Willey is Yorkshire's T20 captain  •  Getty Images

David Willey is Yorkshire's T20 captain  •  Getty Images

David Willey, the England allrounder, has tested positive for Covid-19.
Yorkshire announced on Wednesday afternoon that Willey, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Josh Poysden and Matthew Fisher would miss their remaining Vitality Blast group games after one of them had tested positive, and Willey later revealed on Twitter that he was the player who had contracted the virus.
"Thank you for all the kind messages," Willey tweeted. "My wife and I received positive Covid test results. Gutted to be missing the remaining games. Even more devastated that having been in contact with the other three lads Sat morning (before we had symptoms) means they're at risk and unavailable too."
The four players had been withdrawn from Yorkshire's squad to play Lancashire on Monday after Willey's wife had developed symptoms, and waited in the car park in anticipation of Willey's own test coming back negative which would have cleared them to play after the four players had come into contact - away from the rest of the squad - on Saturday.
All four players have been advised to self-isolate for 14 days, as per Covid-19 guidelines, and will miss the final three group-stage games. They would be available for the quarter-finals on October 1 if Yorkshire can reach the knockouts without them.
The absences leave Yorkshire with a severely depleted squad. Heading into Wednesday night's game, Poysden, Fisher and Willey were their three leading wicket-takers in the Blast, while Willey and Kohler-Cadmore are captain and vice-captain respectively.
Kunwar Bansil, Yorkshire's lead physiotherapist said: "Although it is disappointing that we will be without four key players, we have a duty of care to the wider squad and others.
"The health and well-being of the players and support staff is the club's primary responsibility, as well as protecting the opposition, the integrity of the competition and playing our part in keeping the wider community safe."
Andrew Gale, Yorkshire's head coach, had said after Monday's game: "We were hoping one of the four lads would have their test back, which would have enabled the rest of them to play. They were sat outside the ground until 5.30pm waiting on a text, but unfortunately it didn't come.
"With the guidelines in place, the physios and club doctor said they couldn't take part in the game unless that one person tested negative. Unfortunately, it didn't come through. I fully expect it to be negative, but you just don't know - you have to be careful."
The news completes a difficult few weeks for Willey, who admitted in an interview with the Yorkshire Post that he had felt "a bit hard done by" not to have played for England since his man-of-the-series efforts against Ireland earlier in the summer.
Willey turned down an offer from Delhi Capitals to replace Jason Roy in their IPL squad earlier this month in order to lead Yorkshire throughout the second half of the group stage, having decided to prioritise the tournament after being awarded the captaincy during the off-season rather than travelling to the UAE.
This is the second time that a county cricketer has tested positive for Covid-19 this season, after an unnamed Northants player contracted the virus. His positive test caused their Bob Willis Trophy fixture against Gloucestershire to be abandoned after lunch on the first day, and three of his team-mates went into self-isolation as a result.
2055 BST, September 16 - This story was updated after Willey tweeted about his positive test result

Matt Roller is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo. He tweets at @mroller98