England confirmed it will go to Australia for the Ashes series in December after its officials gave conditional approval of the tour early this morning (AEDT).<\/p>\n
England has cast doubt for months on the seven-week tour while negotiating for less restrictive health and travel protocols in the pandemic.<\/p>\n
Captain Joe Root committed to the tour this week after casting doubt last month, but it's yet to be seen if his participation will impact his teammates' decision on playing in the Ashes, which begins on December 8.<\/p>\n
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Following \u201cexcellent progress\u201d in talks with Cricket Australia, the England and Wales Cricket Board said the tour was on \u201csubject to several critical conditions,\u201d without elaborating.<\/p>\n
"To facilitate further progress and allow a squad to be selected, the ECB board has met today and given its approval for the tour to go ahead,\u201d it said in a statement.<\/p>\n
READ MORE:<\/strong> Australia sets new record in World Cup qualifiers with win over Oman<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n READ MORE:<\/strong> Storm board 'seriously considered axing' Cameron Munster<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n "This decision is subject to several critical conditions being met before we travel. We look forward to the ongoing assistance from Cricket Australia in resolving these matters in the coming days.\u201d<\/p>\n England disrupted its end-of-year schedule when it canceled a tour of Pakistan this month, then the architect of that controversial decision, chairman Ian Watmore, quit on Thursday.<\/p>\n For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0clicking here!<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"