Former England cricketer Kevin Pietersen has called for ‘zero restrictions’ for England players when they travel to Australia later in the year and slammed the ‘ridiculous’ quarantine rules that have been established.  

With just two months left for the prestigious Ashes series to begin, the tour still remains uncertain. A lot of senior English players are considering the possibility of boycotting the tour depending on what type of restrictions they have to live in. 

Pietersen took a strong stance on social media on the issue and asserted that players cannot live the bubble life anymore.”There is NO WAY I would go to The Ashes this winter.  ZERO chance!  Unless, the ridiculous quarantine rules were squashed and my family could travel with zero restrictions. Players are now done with bubbles! DONE!!!!!!!,” tweeted Pietersen

A sudden rise in COVID-19 across cities over the last few months has led to severe restrictions in the country. However, according to reports England players are not willing to live in strong bubbles and want to ensure their families can travel with them and have the freedom to move around. 

With next month’s T20 World Cup set to be played under a strict bio-bubble in the United Arab Emirates, England’s all-format players could end up staying in a bubble for almost four months if they take the flight to Australia and stay in the country for the whole tour.

The issue was also raised on a diplomatic level as UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson spoke to his Australian counterpart about this when the two leaders met in Washington last week. 

Meanwhile, another ex-England captain Michael Vaughan asked players to make a ‘sacrifice’ and skip the T20 World Cup in order to make themselves available for the five-match test series in Australia. The first Ashes test is scheduled to take place in Brisbane from 8th December.