The Ashes Series will go ahead next year on Australian soil after captain Joe Root and the England cricketers conceded to COVID protocols.

Jim Wilson blasted the players for “carrying on like pork chops” by threatening to boycott the series, but former Australian captain Mark ‘Tubby’ Taylor told Jim he was always “quietly confident” the English team would back down.

The threat allowed them to negotiate the ideal travel and quarantine arrangements, he said.

“I think it was more a positioning strategy from the players  … to get the best possible outcome they could.

“If it didn’t go ahead, it would be a real bad sign for Test cricket, and the future … of all Test match cricket.”

Press PLAY below to hear Tubby’s summer of cricket preview