New Delhi: Cricket has lost a portion of the year’s fixes, including the World Cup, which had to be postponed and players jailed in “luxury jails” when the game came to a standstill and There are still scars. Covid-19 epidemic.
The sweet sound of the bat meeting ball was silenced in March as New Zealand were renewing their trans-Tasman feud in Australia and the Pakistan Super League T20 match was nearing its business end.
An outbreak of the novel coronavirus forced players into the home, leaving several cricket boards, including some other wealthy ones.
Half a dozen Test series could not be played, the calendar was created and a change was made in how the finalists of next year’s World Test Championship (WTC) would be decided.
The women’s Twenty20 World Cup, played by Meg Lanning’s Australia on March 8 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground before a record crowd of 86,000, narrowly escaped but the men’s tournament was not so lucky.
Even with the outbreak, the governing International Cricket Council (ICC) waited until July before postponing the Australian edition of the tournament until 2022.
Although the game endured four months of meager earnings, the boards offered cost-cutting measures to deal with the financial consequences of the epidemic.
Many boards, including Cricket Australia, have reduced the lion’s share of their work, while the England and Wales Cricket Board has avoided referring to its chief executive Tom Harrison as a “financial scandal”.
The ECB has postponed the inaugural edition of the Hundred Competitions, while its players, men and women have accepted pay cuts.
International cricket finally resumed after a gap of 117 days when England hosted the West Indies in a three-Test series at bio-safe locations in Southampton and Manchester in July.
Living alone and playing behind closed doors provides this “new normal” game with a pattern to continue in exceptional circumstances.
Although the immediate reaction of the action-hungry players was one of relief, the tension of bubble-life soon became apparent.
Bubble Fatigue
England all-rounder Tom Curran has been ruled out of the Big Bash League (BBL) in Australia, citing bubble fatigue. A few days ago, compatriot Tom Banton withdrew from this T20 tournament.
“It can be very difficult,” said South African pacer Kagiso Rabada after experiencing a bubble life in the Indian Premier League (IPL) in the United Arab Emirates.
“You can’t talk. You have really lost your freedom. It’s almost like a luxury prison, “the 25-year-old told a virtual conference.” Another innovation forced by the epidemic.
India captain Virat Kohli has said that when determining the length of a cricket tour, the bulb in the player’s mind should be considered.
Celebrating his 32nd birthday in the IPL bubble, Kohli said, “These things have to be taken seriously.
The IPL, meanwhile, proved to be a resounding success despite being in another country and out of its original window with a new title sponsor.
However, the Covid-19’s concerns sparked a bioscape bubble in South Africa earlier this month, prompting England to return home after leaving the ODI series.
Cricket also threw its weight behind the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, which brought many teams to their knees.
The ICC, which elected New Zealand’s Greg Barclay as its new chairman in November, has loosened its code of conduct to effectively sanction such demonstrations of solidarity for racial equality.
Australia started their cricketing summer in Sydney with a tough stance against racism and a ‘barefoot cycle’ with the recognition of Indigenous Australians.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s relentless campaign to help top teams address their security concerns and tour the country has resulted in a commitment to join England, New Zealand, New Zealand and South Africa in 2021.
Reporting by Amalan Chakraborty in New Delhi; Edited by Ken Ferris
