NRL 2021: Mitchell Starc, Covid scare, Pat Cummins, Nathan Lyon, Australia vs England, second Test, Adelaide Oval

Mitchell Starc has revealed the lucky break that saw him and Nathan Lyon sit away from Pat Cummins at the restaurant that ultimately put the Australia captain out of the second Test.

Cummins was ruled out of the match hours before the first ball after he was deemed a close contact of a Covid-positive case, who sat on a table next to him at an Adelaide restaurant.

Starc and Lyon ate at the restaurant too, but at a separate table outside, while Cummins dined inside.

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Cricket Australia protocols deem that players cannot dine in groups bigger than three to mitigate the risk of having a large group ruled out of a single match.

Speaking to reporters after play on day three, Starc said that he and Lyon not only didn’t dine with Cummins, but chose to sit as far away from him as possible as a “p*sstake”.

“It was just fortunate we were sitting outside,” Starc said. “That was almost a bit of a p*sstake because Pat didn’t reply to our message, so we thought we’d sit away from him and sit outside.

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“So it was a bit lucky.”

Starc said he was made aware that Cummins’ was a close contact when arriving back at the hotel.

Asked if he had a sleepless night, Starc said: “Spinner didn’t sleep. I slept quite fine, there wasn’t much I could do about it after.”

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