The West Indies cricket team’s coach Phil Simmons has apologised on behalf of his team for breaking managed isolation rules.
The team - here to play against the Black Caps - had their training exemptions revoked by the Ministry of Health yesterday after some players were found to have “repeatedly” broken managed isolation rules inside their Christchurch facility.
Instances of broken rules, which were caught on CCTV and witnesses reported to staff, included groups mingling and sharing food.
Speaking to MediaWorks this morning, Simmons said he was embarrassed by the non “thinking situation”.
“I just apologise to the New Zealand public and Government that’s given us this opportunity to come here,” he said.
“It’s a little bit embarrassing from our point of view.”
Simmons admitted that in one incident during their stay members of the team broke out of their bubbles by crossing the corridor of the facility to pass food on to other team members.
He said they infringed the rules by also not wearing masks in the corridors.
“The disappointing thing is they’re not difficult rules to follow. These are simple rules that you can follow day-to-day. That’s why it’s so disappointing.”
He said not being able to train will be a big setback for the team.
“It has impacted our training.”
The team are almost at the end of their isolation stay pending their last Covid-19 tests returning negative results.
The Black Caps' first match against the West Indies is a T20 on November 27 before two more matches in the shortened format of cricket take place on November 29 and 30.
Following that, they then play the Windies in two Test matches in Auckland and Wellington in early December.
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