Sussex and England seamer George Garton has been affected after a Covid outbreak within the England camp.

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) confirmed this morning that PCR tests which were taken yesterday morning showed that three players and four members of staff returned positive results and the remainder of the group were classified as close contacts, forcing them to isolate in line with public health guidelines.

That means Garton will have to wait for his senior England debut.

That looked to have thrown the series against Pakistan into jeopardy with the first ODI due to get underway on Thursday afternoon (1pm) at Sophia Gardens in Cardiff.

But the ECB has announced the Royal London ODIs and the Vitality IT20s against Pakistan will go ahead with England managing to get a completely new side together.

Ben Stokes will return to the squad and captain the side – which will be named in the next few hours.  

Chief executive of the ECB, Tom Harrison, said: ‘‘We have been mindful that the emergence of the Delta variant, along with our move away from the stringent enforcement of bio secure environments, could increase the chances of an outbreak.

"We made a strategic choice to try to adapt protocols, in order to support the overall wellbeing of our players and management staff who have spent much of the last 14 months living in very restricted conditions.
 
"Overnight we have worked swiftly to identify a new squad, and we are grateful to Ben Stokes who will return to England duties to Captain.

"We also recognise the impact this news will have on our First Class Counties and their Men’s playing squads and thank them, along with our partners Sky and Royal London, for their ongoing support in dealing with this pandemic.’’