The fate of this summer’s Ashes series could be known this week when England decide if their tour to Australia will go ahead.

Cricket Australia may have to produce a radical overhaul of the proposed schedule – with two Ashes Tests each in Perth and Adelaide possible outcomes – to ensure the series is played.

The unwillingness of England players and their families to undertake strict quarantine arrangements, as well as the lack of certainty over Melbourne and Sydney being able to host Test matches, has cast a dark shadow over arrangements for the tour.

England officials spent the weekend sounding out players and staff about their willingness to tour Australia and the possible quarantine restrictions they would face in this country.

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“Later this week the board will meet to decide whether the conditions in place are sufficient for the tour to go ahead,” the ECB said in a statement on Monday night.

That decision would then trigger the “selection of a squad befitting a series of this significance”.

Enabling England to perform at their best in a bid to regain the Ashes, which Australia retained in 2019 after winning them back in 2017-18, was a priority.

“Our focus is to ensure the tour can go ahead with conditions for players and management to perform at their best,” the ECB said.

“We have been talking to England men’s players and management to provide them with the latest information about the proposed arrangements for this winter’s scheduled Ashes tour.

“We remain in regular and positive dialogue with Cricket Australia over these arrangements as the picture is constantly evolving.”

England captain Joe Root spoke for many England players, some of whom have undertaken six separate quarantine stints over the past 18 months, when he said he could not guarantee his involvement in the series without more information on the tour logistics.

“I feel it’s so hard to make a definite decision until you know,” Root said last week.

“That’s why it’s so important that we get all the information.”

A Cricket Australia spokesperson said the “health and wellbeing of both squads” would remain a priority this summer.

“We are buoyed by rising vaccination rates and an evolving approach to the pandemic in Australia,” the statement read.

“The anticipated conditions for the tour, including quarantine arrangements, have now been communicated to the ECB and directly to the England players and staff.”

The current Ashes schedule proposes that the Gabba will host the first Test, a day-nighter will be held in Adelaide before the traditional Boxing Day Test at the MCG and New Year’s Test at the SCG.

The fifth Test is scheduled to be held at Optus Stadium in January but it is difficult to see how that could be arranged without a two-week quarantine period before the match.

Some Australian cricket figures have privately conceded that the MCG and SCG Tests are in extreme doubt given the COVID19 landscape in Victoria and NSW.

Playing extra Tests in the unaffected States of WA and South Australia remain a possibility with Hobart another potential location.

Proposed Ashes schedule

First Test - Gabba, Dec 8-12

Second Test - Adelaide, Dec 16-20 (day-night)

Third Test - MCG, Dec 26-30

Fourth Test - SCG, Jan 5-9

Fifth Test - Optus Stadium, Jan 14-18