We’re all in limbo... but it’s for best
I’VE BEEN PUT IN CHARGE OF PE IF THE SCHOOLS ARE SHUT
ENGLAND’S star all-rounder on the shock of having to adapt to life without cricket after coronavirus halted tour of Sri Lanka
FROM one extreme to the other. From nonstop cricket in 2019 to a break that could last a long time in 2020.
It feels strange being back home and hanging out with the family when your body and mind were gearing up to do the thing you love and play Test cricket.
But this is the reality of where we are at in the world and at this moment in time the most important thing is everybody’s health. That has to take priority over everything else.
We were taking sensible hygiene precautions on tour and were fine, but I’m pleased the decision was made for us to come home when we did to be with our families.
We’ve got my mother-inlaw Jane staying with us so that she won’t have to be on her own. And if the schools end up being closed, then that means with my wife Clare as well, we’ll have two qualified teachers to keep up the work at home. I’ve been told that I’m in charge of PE, which could be interesting for Layton and Libby. At the moment I’m taking the time off to relax and recharge because we don’t know when we’ll be back. As it stands, the IPL is my next bit of cricket, but no-one can say for sure. We are all in limbo, but there are bigger issues. One thing the break has allowed me to do is get over my stomach injury that caused me to miss the second warm-up in Colombo. I’d had a bat, then sat down in a chair and had some lunch. When I got up it felt like someone was stabbing me in my abdomen. The doctor thought it might be appendicitis but a scan ruled that out, and we still didn’t know why I was in such pain. Next day when I got to the ground Carl Hopkinson, our fielding coach, saw me and asked, ‘Do you reckon it was where I hit you?’ And then it dawned on me. He had hit me quite hard giving me throwdowns when I was batting and I had forgotten. I’m all good now.