‘New normal’ is sending us all Jof the rails

THE ‘new normal’ – we’ve certainly heard and felt that over the last few months, as we have adjusted to fake crowd noises, pundits social distancing and every other necessary Covid-19 protocol.

It really hit home this week as I read of Jofra Archer’s exclusion from the England team, for the Second Test against the West Indies, for breaking the bio-secure instructions that players needed to follow during the series.

Archer had travelled to his home in Sussex on the way from Southampton to Manchester, which was strictly forbidden in order to protect the environment the players moved in.

If Archer (right) had been infected and then infected others, outside of the health implications, his mistake would have cancelled the series and cost tens of millions of pounds.

Undeniably, it was very stupid, but I did also feel sorry for him.

At 25, Archer is a young man getting used to his ‘new normal’ as an international cricketer, something that now involves a number of different rules and protocols he was never expecting to deal with.

It is similar to how we are all getting used to the way we move around the supermarket, when to wear a mask, and how often we wash our hands. And I don’t believe anyone that tells me they have got it spot on with this all the time. We are all adjusting.

I know that during my hockey career, there was little room in my head for much else than my hockey, just ask my now husband. I was obsessed with it.

All international sports people are the same. It’s the reason that we can be selfish and self-absorbed at times. Sometimes, it is misunderstood as arrogance, but it is just that our heads are consumed with our sport.

It is what is required to have the mentality to survive at that level. Archer will be no different with his cricket and was just coming off the back of a Test match in which he took some criticism, which wouldn’t have helped.

He has to do better in the future, and he will be in no doubt about that now. But let’s not lambast him for this. He won’t be the last player to make a mistake around team protocols, whether Covid-19 ones or others.

We are all doing our best with our ‘new normal’ in these unprecedented times and that includes players.

Let’s just be grateful Archer’s mistake didn’t have a greater cost and that we are finally enjoying some live sport again.

AFTER 16 years, Leeds United are back in the Premier League and I think they will be sticking around for a while. I don’t particularly rate their current squad, but manager Marcelo Bielsa is exceptional. If a top team doesn’t poach him, I see Leeds regularly contesting for the European spots in three-to-five years.

MIND THE GAP Even pundits have to abide by new rules in these unusual times