The move comes after a series of disruptions by Just Stop Oil activists, a coalition made up of environmental action groups fighting to raise awareness about climate change, at sporting events across UK over the last year. Premier League football, the World Snooker Championships and Premiership Rugby Union have all been affected.
Last week the England men’s team bus, en route to Lord’s for the one-off Test against Ireland, was held up briefly on the first morning after being blocked by activists. On Monday morning, the Australia team bus was similarly delayed, stuck in traffic because of Just Stop Oil protests, as they headed to The Oval for training.
The ICC has updated its playing conditions for the WTC final with a clause accounting for the use of another pitch in case the one in use is damaged, or is deemed dangerous. The initial step in the playing conditions is to see if the existing pitch can be repaired and the match to restart from the point it was stopped subject to the surface not affecting either team.
In case the original pitch cannot be repaired a new pitch will come into play. Only if it is not possible to resume the match on that other pitch will the match then be abandoned and deemed a no-result.
Both teams have been informed by the ICC of the development. “It’s something we got in the security briefing a couple days ago,” Pat Cummins, the Australian captain, said. “I’ve heard that they’re aware of it and kind of keep an eye out. But that’s as much as we’ve heard.
“So hopefully, it doesn’t happen, obviously. But I’ve heard there’s a few different events that have been affected.”
Security has been beefed up for both teams as well as for the Test, which is a sellout for all five days.
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