Australia limited-overs captain Aaron Finch has urged his teammates to strictly adhere to the COVID-19 protocols ahead of their tour to England next month.

Finch further said that the cricketers shouldn’t do anything that will waste the efforts of the administrators and others who worked effortlessly to make sure international cricket gets back to the field.

“What’s important to remember is we are in a position to help continue the global game, and there should be no more motivation than that to do everything right. I’ve been very strong with the guys in the last couple of weeks about making sure that we do literally everything we can with regards to the protocols to keep the global game going,” Finch told a virtual press conference as per cricket.com.au.

“Because at the end of the day, if that fails then we are all out of jobs and the game is not in a healthy state, which we can’t afford to have. There’s been so much time and effort put in by thousands of people to give us the opportunity to play international cricket again, and even us leaving Australia, leaving Victoria, is a big process.

“The people who’ve worked their backside off over the last couple of months to allow it to happen in Australia, in the UK, in India, South Africa, the UAE, wherever it is, thousands of people are doing an unbelievable amount of work to get the game up and running again.

“We owe it to them in particular to do everything right,” he added.

Australia and England will play three Twenty-20 Internationals (T20I) and One Day Internationals (ODI) each.

The tour will start with the T20I series which will be played at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton on September 4, 6 and 8, while the ODIs will be played at the Old Trafford in Manchester on September 11, 13 and 16. The matches will be played behind closed doors.

The ODI series will also be a part of the newly-launched ICC Men’s World Cup Super League – a qualification system to determine the participating teams for the 2023 World Cup in India.

England had become the first country to host international cricket after the COVID-19 hiatus when they played a three-match Test series against the West Indies. Playing with a different team altogether, England have also hosted Ireland for a three-match ODI series.

For Australia, on the other hand, the limited-overs assignments will be their first international outing after the coronavirus pandemic had stopped all forms of competitive cricket in March.