Start of SGC Test match ends fraught build-up that had nothing to do with cricket

After a first week of January that felt a lot longer, the Sydney Test will end a fraught lead-up when it finally gets underway.

Not that it means that conducting the match will be any less fraught. Such are the unknowns of staging major events in the middle of viral outbreaks.

It was December 29 when Cricket Australia (CA) insisted that the Test match should go ahead in a city where COVID-19 had breached containment lines, rather than using one of several cities where it had not.

Mercifully, the daily case numbers in New South Wales have stayed low, but that was no surer than a gamble when the decision was made.

Cases continue to be found and traced, as has their spread to Melbourne where the preceding MCG Test is now under investigation…