Tom Harrison: "You can't be flippant or light-hearted about issues with mental health, and this is what it's about"

ECB chief executive Harrison defended India's players against any suggestion that the decision to cancel the fifth Test had been made with safeguarding their participation in the Indian Premier League in mind

A Covid outbreak in India’s camp accelerated the mental fatigue of the tourists’ squad at the back-end of a long tour, leading to the cancellation of the fifth Test between England and India, ECB chief executive Tom Harrison has told Test Match Special.

Several of the Indian backroom staff have tested positive for Covid-19 over the past fortnight and, following the most recent set of positive tests, there was considerable concern among the squad about the possibility of a wider outbreak, which could threaten participation in the Indian Premier League and T20 World Cup.

But PCR tests on the Indian players on Thursday came back negative, meaning the game at Emirates Old Trafford could have gone ahead, though the visitors were worried about the potential impact of the virus spreading any further through the camp.

The decision to call off the game, however, is understood to have been player rather than public health driven. The BCCI have offered to reschedule the fixture, and it is understood that the two governing bodies are in discussions over a potential date for a rearrangement.

Harrison said: “The bottom line is that you can’t be flippant or light-hearted about issues with mental health, and this is what it’s about. Through this pandemic, we’ve seen this manifest itself in different ways.

“This Indian cricket team have been an unbelievable, exemplary touring team for India as great ambassadors for their country. They have been wonderful tourists that have enthralled crowds all around the country this year.

^{The fifth Test between England and India has been cancelled}

“But they’ve been here for a long time and the other thing to bear in mind is playing at this level week after week is difficult. And when you’re doing it in the environment that we’re all living in, even if it feels like we’re kind of emerging from the pandemic in this country, for the players life is different. It’s not a bio-secure environment but there are standards in place that make it difficult to live life normally.

“No matter how easy we’ve tried to make it to live a normal life, the fact of the matter is that it isn’t a normal life. I think over time that pressure builds up, and it can be brought to bear very quickly when something happens. Clearly what happened was that someone in the environment contracted Covid and that was the start of the concerns that came out since then.”

The IPL resumes in the UAE on September 19, and the proximity of the two events has always been something of a sticking point between the ECB and the BCCI.

Nasser Hussain: Cricket Covid bubbles are no longer sustainable

India's stars are due to fly to Dubai on Wednesday, and are anxious about being told to isolate following a positive test, meaning they would miss a significant portion of the rearranged competition - which was suspended in May following a Covid-19 outbreak within the bio-secure bubbles in India.

Harrison, however, defended India’s players against the suggestion that this decision had been made with safeguarding their participation in mind.

“I think that’s unfair actually,” he said. “I think it’s really unfair. I think the BCCI and this Indian cricket team and their captain all want to make their mark in Test cricket. That is how they judge themselves, that is how they perform in Test cricket – like our players and like our fans. So, I don’t think that is something that needs to worry people who feel there may be an agenda at hand here. That just isn’t the case.

^{Spectators arrived in the ground shortly before the cancellation was announced}

“I was on the phone all night to our colleagues in India and some of them in Dubai to find different ways of getting this Test match played, to delay it by a day, to delay it by two days, to give comfort that we can do more testing in this environment. We haven’t had a positive test in the recent couple of rounds, but I think once those fears creep in, they can be very hard to shift. So, it has turned out to be in this case.

“We have to understand that when it comes to matters of mental health, listening to players and listening to what they’re telling us – and it’s not just in this case but it’s to do with the schedule and ongoing commitments and obligations that we ask players to fulfil – administrators have to keep listening to make sure that we’re taking action against putting too much pressure on players to continually fulfil obligations.”

England’s players have themselves pulled out of a series during the Covid era - in South Africa last December, following a breach of the bio-security arrangements at their accommodation in Cape Town.

At the time, the touring white-ball group lost faith in the bubble protocols, with managing director of England men’s cricket Ashley Giles saying: “The thing that really raised the levels of anxiety and nervousness were that we were coming into a biosecure environment and from very early on it appeared it wasn’t biosecure.

“There’s clearly concern when infections spring up in what is a supposed to be a biosecure environment. It wasn’t one case. There were a couple of [hotel] staff members, a couple of South African players. That’s the bit that really affected our touring group.”