Ashes cancellation ‘would cost Cricket Australia more than £100m’

The ECB is set to make a decision later this week over whether the Ashes will go ahead, amid concerns among England 's players about Australia's strict coronavirus protocol.

Cricket Australia and the ECB have been locked in talks for months and England's players have finally been given details about what the tour will look like.

The players will then make a decision over their availability for the series, with concerns including 'bubble fatigue', not being able to see their families and quarantine arrangements.

The ECB released a statement on Monday which left the door open to cancelling the Ashes, a decision which could reportedly cost Cricket Australia more than £100m.

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The statement reads: "Over the weekend we have been talking to England men’s players and management to provide them with the latest information about the proposed arrangements for this winter’s scheduled Ashes tour.

"We remain in regular and positive dialogue with Cricket Australia over these arrangements as the picture is constantly evolving.

"With health and wellbeing at the forefront, our focus is to ensure the tour can go ahead with conditions for players and management to perform at their best.

"We will continue talking to our players this week to share the latest information and seek feedback.

"Later this week the ECB Board will meet to decide whether the conditions in place are sufficient for the Tour to go ahead and enable the selection of a squad befitting a series of this significance."

According to a report from Australian outlet The Age, if the Ashes were to get cancelled it would 'leave a $200million [£106.9m] black hole in Australian cricket’s finances'.

The report also states that it would 'cost Australia's players up to $1 million [£535,000] each and have a debilitating impact on grassroots cricket'.

Around half of that total figure would come from Australia's broadcast deal with Fox and Channel Seven, with the remainder made up by overseas rights, ticket sales and sponsorship deals.

It does claim that England pulling out of the Ashes is 'unlikely', stating that talks between the boards 'are actually going well'.

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