Further doubts have been cast over the fourth Test between India and Australia, scheduled to be held in Brisbane from January 15, with a fresh, three-day lockdown being announced in the Queensland state capital on Friday. 

Less than 24 hours prior to the announcement of the lockdown, top officials from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and Cricket Australia (CA) held discussions over relaxing the stringent quarantine measures for Team India, PTI reported. 

“Cricket Australia executives are urgently trying to determine the impact of a three-day lockdown in Brisbane on next week’s fourth Test at the Gabba, which was already under a cloud because of India’s hesitation to fly north and be subjected to tighter bio-security restrictions,” PTI quoted a report from the Sydney Morning Herald saying. 

“A hotel quarantine worker’s positive test to the more contagious UK strain of COVID-19 is the latest spanner in the works for CA’s hopes to close out the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series at the Gabba,” it said. 

CA were considering allowing up to 36,000 spectators to attend the final of the four-match series, although the current situation may enforce a change to that policy. 

“The health scare in the city, however, has left those attendance caps in jeopardy,” the report said. 

The lockdown measures in the city were announced in the wake of a cleaner at a quarantine hotel testing positive for the UK coronavirus strain, AFP reported. 

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“If we are going to stop the spread of this infectious strain, this UK strain, we must act immediately,” Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said.

Although several cases of the UK and South Africa variants have been detected in travellers – currently under quarantine – in recent weeks, the Brisbane case was the first to be contracted locally. 

The BCCI, on Thursday sought a relaxation of the quarantine measures in Brisbane, saying that the visiting team had already completed agreed-upon isolation at the beginning of the tour. 

Protocols in Brisbane require players to be restricted to their hotel rooms at the end of each day’s play. 

CA had assured earlier that “a deal” has been “signed off on by the Queensland government to allow players and staff out of their rooms to mingle together inside the hotel when not playing or training will remain in place for their week in the city”, although the BCCI want further assurance in the matter. 

Sydney will act as a back-up venue if Brisbane cannot host the Test, or if the Indian contingent refuses to travel.