Tahlia McGrath recorded a positive COVID result after experiencing ‘mild symptoms’ but was still allowed to play in Sunday’s gold medal match against India at Edgbaston in Birmingham.
McGrath kept his distance from his teammates and wore a protective face mask as she waited to bat, but removed it before entering the field, where he scored two runs off four balls.
Australia achieved a narrow nine-run victory over India to become the Commonwealth Games champions, and McGrath was pictured both without and wearing a mask during the ceremony.
The decision to field a cricketer with COVID has sparked controversy not only as a potential health risk, but also because Australia has been one of the strictest countries in terms of COVID regulations.
If the Commonwealth Games final had taken place in Australia, McGrath would have been forced to retreat and isolate for seven days. But McGrath was allowed to play in yesterday’s final with the full support of the International Cricket Council, the Australian Commonwealth Games team and the Commonwealth Games Federation.
The UK government is now insisting that self-isolation rules are advisory only, with the Birmingham Games open to allowing Covid-positive athletes to participate and said they would assess on a case-by-case basis.
A Commonwealth Games Australia statement said: ‘McGrath presented to team management on Sunday with mild symptoms and later returned testing positive.
She was named in the starting XI in the toss and his participation in the final was approved by the International Cricket Council (ICC).
‘In consultation with the CGF and ICC, the CGA and Cricket Australia’s medical staff have implemented comprehensive protocols that will be observed throughout the game and for post-match activity, to reduce the risk of transmission to all players and officials .
‘The CGA has maintained a comprehensive COVID-19 risk mitigation strategy for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, with testing over and above the testing protocols required by the Birmingham 2022 Organizing Committee.’
But the Indian cricket team was reportedly confused and somewhat worried after McGrath was cleared to play, especially when there were reports that he was not informed of the test results until the toss, leading to a slight delay.
Bloomberg News reporter Akshat Rathi called it an “insult of duty”.
He said on Twitter: ‘I don’t understand how the rules are allowing Tahlia McGrath on the field to play a cricket match after testing positive for COVID-19. This is a dereliction of duty by the officers.
Sports reporter Naveen Sharma said it was a ‘shameless’ decision by Australia, adding on social media: ‘Australians always preach about right or wrong but when it comes to them they forget everything.’
But Australian batsman Beth Mooney jumped to her teammate’s defence, saying the ‘right decision’ was made.
“It’s a real shame that in elite sport you get publicly shamed for having Covid, when maybe 90% of the people in this room here have it right now,” he said.
‘No one is being tested, no one is doing anything. It’s just a real shame that she couldn’t celebrate with us, but at the same time I think the right decision was made in terms of letting her play. Hopefully people will not be bothered too much by this.’