Cricket Australia is reportedly ready to resume the cricketing pres season May end. However, it will be done following some strict protocols. These measures are taken for the safety of players amid the coronavirus crisis.
Unlike football and rugby, cricket isn’t a contact sport. There are still some rules which include the use of bodily fluids to shine the ball which is banned now. The players will train under the watchful eyes of Cricket Australia’s chief medical officer Dr. John Orchard. Alex Kountouris, who is the head of sports medicine will also be involved.
ALSO READ: Ravi Shastri recalls competing with Javed Miandad for the Audi
Alex Kountouris reassures saying he doesn’t feel there will be drastic change in how teams train. The Sydney Morning Herald quoted Kountouris saying “There’s physical distancing in the nets – there are two or three bowlers in each net. One bowl at a time, the batter is 22 yards away so it’s not a big problem. We don’t see it as too big a problem to manage, but these are the things we’re spelling out. This is what you should do: keep your distance, how you should handle the ball, these are things easy to manage.”
Alex fells the players will have to find a way to avoid physical contact from old habits like team huddles because of the social distancing rules. Kountouris said, “You might not see high-fiving after a wicket or people ruffling someone else’s hair. It will be a spaced huddle. It will be the new norm. That’s one of those things, the physical distancing for the time being, that will definitely be out until a vaccine or some sort of solution like that [comes up].
ALSO READ: David Warner excludes Yuvraj Singh from his all-time IND-AUS IPL XI
Speaking on avoiding physical contact while celebrating, Alex fells the players will have to find a way around it. He says the team has to follow these rules and come up with different ways.
“I think we’ll have to find a different way to celebrate, they’ll have to be innovative. There are things you won’t be able to chop out overnight but people will gradually get used to doing things differently,” he said.
