England vs India AXED as ECB take £30m hit and say tourists have forfeited Test match.. before deleting statement

THE Fifth Test at Old Trafford has sensationally been cancelled as cricket descended into farce.

It meant that many of the 21,500 capacity crowd travelled to Old Trafford unaware they would not see any play.

The ECB are expected to lose £30MILLION in lost TV revenue and ticket refunds due to the cancellation, with Lancashire CCC - the county behind Old Trafford - also expected to take a substantial hit.

India have offered to reschedule the cancelled Test match at a later date.

The ECB released a statement saying India have forfeited the match because several of their players were unwilling to take the field after a fourth member of the team’s backroom staff tested positive for Covid.

A subsequent statement had the word 'forfeit' removed. 

The latest ECB statement reads: “Following ongoing conversations with the BCCI, the ECB can confirm that the Fifth Test between England and India men due to start today at Emirates Old Trafford will be cancelled. 

"Due to fears of a further increase in the number of COVID cases inside the camp, India are regrettably unable to field a team. 

"We send our sincere apologies to fans and partners for this news, which we know will cause immense disappointment and inconvenience to many."

JOIN SUN VEGAS: GET A FREE £10 BONUS WITH 100s OF GAMES TO PLAY AND NO DEPOSIT REQUIRED (Ts&Cs apply)

Even though the Indian players all returned negative PCR tests on Thursday - less than 24 hours before the scheduled start - they were still not happy.

Indian players want to make sure they are free to fly to play in the megabucks Indian Premier League next week. The tournament resumes in the UAE on September 19.

Joe Root and his players were told on Thursday evening that their final international of the summer would go ahead after India’s players all returned their negative tests.

But doubts continued as it became clear that several members of Virat Kohli’s squad were reluctant to play.

My initial thoughts are this is the end or the beginning of the end of Test cricket.

England legend Steve Harmison

India cancelled both their practice session and normal pre-match media conference on Thursday after assistant-physiotherapist Yogesh Parmar tested positive. He has been in close proximity with a number of players he has been treating.

Head coach Ravi Shastri, bowling coach Bharat Arun and fielding coach R Sridhar tested positive during India’s victory in the Fourth Test at the Oval and remain in isolation in London.

Three IPL captains are in the Indian team - Virat Kohli of Royal Challengers Bangalore, Rohit Sharma of Mumbai Indians and KL Rahul of Punjab Kings - while the likes of Rishabh Pant and Jasprit Bumrah are huge stars of the tournament.

England players appearing in the IPL such as Jonny Bairstow, Dawid Malan, Moeen Ali and Chris Woakes are due to join the Indian players on a special charter flight to the UAE on September 15.

England curtailed their white-ball tour of South Africa late last year after opposition players and staff at the team hotel tested positive for Covid.

Speaking to Sky Sports from Old Trafford, former England captain Nasser Hussain said: "It's a mess. There's still a bit of debate about forfeiting and who's forfeited and the actual result of the game. That hasn't been clarified.

"I have a lot of sympathy with the Indian players... the physio would have been treating all the players. You can imagine in the fifth Test match there would have been some sore bodies, sore bowlers - and you cannot do physiotherapy without close contact.

I feel Absolute rage, to be completely honest... It's for all the fans and for everyone that was going to be here. But there's so many little businesses that are affected by a late decision like this.

Chris Millard, Barmy Army

"Even though they've tested negative a couple of times now, they're worried that suddenly in the middle of the Test match they test positive and three or four players have to go down and you have Covid subs etc.

"But my actual sympathy is with the crowd. I got in a cab this morning to come here and someone shouted, 'I'll see you down at the ground.' Well, I don't think you will from what I'm hearing.

"People would have booked hotels; taken days off work; got transport. I'm hearing from the ECB there will be a refund on ticket sales but you can imagine how many people have waited to come here and watch this Test match which was set up perfectly.

"After everything both sides and cricket has been through in the summer, it would have been nice just to finish it off and pat everyone on the back for all the bubble time they've done... it's a real shame it has to end on such a low note."