Ireland hit by positive Covid tests before trip to West Indies

The Ireland men's cricket squad has been hit by positive Covid-19 tests as it prepares to fly out to the West Indies.

Paul Stirling and Shane Getkate have both entered a mandatory 10-day isolation period, although George Dockrell has been cleared to travel to Jamaica after being found to have registered a false positive.

High performance director Richard Holdsworth told Cricket Ireland's official website: "The transmissibility of this latest strain of the virus has not spared us – nor indeed the USA squad nor the umpires in our recent series – and overnight three players have now tested positive [note: one player has now been given the all clear].

“These are the only three Irish players to date that have tested positive since entering the managed environment, albeit we also have two players isolating as registered ‘close contacts’ of positive cases too. These latter players tested negative subsequently, but will need to do so again before they join the squad in Jamaica.”

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Harry Tector and Gareth Delany have both successfully completed their quarantine periods and will travel to Jamaica with the squad on Friday, while Andrew Balbirnie and Andy McBrine, who were listed as close contacts of positive cases, are likely to rejoin their team-mates on January 2nd provided they produce negative tests.

Head of physiotherapy and medicine Mark Rausa is scheduled to meet up once again on January 6th.

Ireland are due to play three one-day internationals and a single T20 match against the West Indies.

Their ODI series against the United States was cut short this week after positive tests among the Irish support staff and family group, having earlier been interrupted by cases in the USA camp and among the umpires.