“Life is different, not only for the players but for everyone in the world because of the challenges Covid has thrown at us.” – Graeme Smith
Telford Vice | Cape Town
CRICKET is governed by what it calls laws. Fort-two of them. Now there is, unofficially, a 43rd: the regulations that allow the game to continue despite Covid-19. They mean, for instance, that Australia will be required to quarantine before their Test series in South Africa in April.
The South Africans will have empathy but not much sympathy for the visitors. The Proteas have had a particularly fraught relationship with the pandemic, abandoning their men’s tour to India in March and seeing England leave early in December. Their women’s team had a home series against Australia in March and April called off and a tour to England in September scrapped.
The men hosted Sri Lanka in a Test series in December and January, are in Pakistan for Tests and T20Is that start on Tuesday, and plan to welcome Pakistan and Australia before the season ends in April. The women began a home ODI series against Pakistan on Wednesday. So things are picking up. But, as director of cricket Graeme Smith explained in an audio file CSA released on Friday, that has taken careful planning and hard work.
“If member nations don’t support each other and play cricket, cricket’s going to find itself in a very challenging space,” Smith said. “In working with Cricket Australia, we’ve come to a lot of those medical conclusions and how that’s going to look. There will be an initial quarantine period before that series. We would love to get our home summer completed, and Australia are a big part of that home summer. Not only do we want to get it played, we want to compete in that series. The last time a Test series with Australia happened in South Africa it was very heated and we all know what went on.”
The Australians are good box office, as their recently concluded epic Test series against India proved again. They have unfinished business in South Africa, where their most recent Tests — in March 2018 — simmered with acrimony that boiled over in the third match at Newlands, where television cameras caught the Aussies using sandpaper to roughen the ball. That cost Steve Smith and David Warner the captaincy and vice-captaincy, Cameron Bancroft his place in the team and Darren Lehmann his job as coach, and prompted deep introspection in facets of Australian culture far removed from cricket.
But even one of the game’s most intense rivalries is not immune to its focus being softened by the virus. “I know everyone is focused on results but as the director of cricket I see [this season] as an opportunity for us to grow squads, to see a number of players across the board,” Smith said. “It’s natural with Covid and how bubbles are being run that it’s going to be impossible to play your best team day in and day out. But hopefully by April we’re going to have a really good idea of a core group of players.
“Yes, we want our team to win as much as possible. [But] I wouldn’t say that’s the defining thing for me this season. I would like to answer a few questions in my own head. I think the selectors and the coaching staff would want to do the same. I’m really excited to see who puts their hand up and who are the people we can back into the future. I played the game hard and I want our team to win as much as possible. But I’m also realistic around the challenges we face on a daily basis with Covid and the bubbles.”
Smith was among cricket’s toughest players when he was opening the batting for South Africa and captaining them. At the SCG in January 2009 he defied doctor’s orders and evaded his team’s security staff to go out to bat with a broken hand and a banged up elbow that had been injected with his own blood. But, now 39 and retired for almost seven years, he seems to have mellowed.
“I do feel for the players, who move from bubble to bubble. Life is different, not only for the players but for everyone in the world because of the challenges Covid has thrown at us. We’ve tried to offer more lifestyle types of [team] hotels where there’s an opportunity to get outside and get some fresh air. We’ve looked at team rooms and how we can create more entertainment for the players; try and create a bit of normality in what is a very abnormal thing to be involved in. We’ve worked very closely with SACA [the South African Cricketers’ Association] to try and keep the dialogue as open and honest as possible and really get players communicating. The men’s team are going to move from bubble to bubble as we try to complete our home season, but we’ll have to manage that. Our objective is to get as much cricket played in a safe environment.”
Before he said all that, Smith offered further evidence that he had grown up. “My little man’s arrived,” was how he announced the surprise appearance in the room of his young son, who had a special request. “Sorry, I’m just tying a shoelace,” Smith said as he did the needful. “You can hide anywhere in the house but they’ll find you.” If only the Covid crisis was that easily resolved.
First published by Cricbuzz.
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