Devon: My father is a virus victim

Devon Malcolm, pictured recently with his dad Albert, 75, who has passed away

Devon MalcolM has called for greater support for care home workers after the sudden death of his father from coronavirus.

The former england fast bowler wants testing kits and protective equipment to be made available to carers to stop more people going through the devastating loss suffered by his family after his dad became a victim of the pandemic.

albert Malcolm, 75, moved to a private care home near his home in Sheffield earlier this year after suffering a ministroke but contracted the virus while on the road to recovery and died in hospital just a few days later.

‘It is so frightening,’ said Malcolm, one of the stars of the england team throughout the nineties. ‘My dad was just in the home while we sorted his house out and he was doing well until he started having a bit of a problem with his breathing.

‘We had a call saying he wasn’t too well and he was taken to hospital where he had a test for covid-19 on Wednesday april 1. on the Thursday, it came back positive and on the Saturday, we were told to expect the worst. Fifteen minutes later, he had passed.’

Malcolm is talking publicly about his family’s ordeal in an attempt to bring greater awareness to the acute danger the virus is bringing to all care home residents and the people who look after them.

‘ They haven’t got any protective equipment,’ Malcolm ( above) told

Sportsmail. ‘They don’t know who’s got the stuff and they don’t do testing. So I’m not surprised at the numbers coming out of these care homes now and the tragic thing is there will be a hell of a lot more. These are the most vulnerable people in society and have to be looked after.’

one of the most popular figures in cricket certainly does not attach any blame to the home in question, which he does not want to name out of respect for other residents there, and says his father received excellent treatment after his stroke and for his existing diabetes. ‘It’s pretty obvious to me the virus was taken into the care home by one of the workers there and they wouldn’t have had a clue because a lot of people don’t know they are carrying it,’ said Malcolm. ‘all care home workers have really been doing is washing their hands and taking the same precautions as everyone else, but they are being forced to put themselves and the lives of their families at risk.

‘We have reported what happened with dad to the home and I just hope it’s not too late for the other people there. There must be testing kits and there has to be more protective equipment. otherwise, it is going to spread like wildfire among the people who most need saving from this.’ albert came to england as a young man from Jamaica and was joined in Sheffield by Devon when he was a teenager before he developed via Derbyshire into one of the fastest and most well- liked bowlers in the world.

‘My dad was a very debonair, charming man,’ smiled Malcolm, who took 128 wickets in 40 Tests for his adopted country. ‘When a nurse who was looking after him rang my sister to tell her he had tested positive for the virus, she broke down in tears. It just shows how much people in the NHS care and the tremendous pressure everyone on the front line is under. I take my hat off to them.’

and Malcolm, still a busy figure at 57 through his work in cricket with the Pca, ECB, chance to Shine and others, hopes his story will help others in the worrying weeks ahead. ‘I’m still out there with my whole family clapping the NHS and banging my saucepan each Thursday night louder than ever,’ added a man whose sister and two of his daughters work in the health service.

‘We’ve got to help them because we all need to get back to smiling and enjoying ourselves at the other end. We will get through it — we just need to give massive help to the people who will get us there.’