The Mail on Sunday

Bubble burn-out for stars

Banton to miss Bash

- From Paul Newman AT PAARL

MORE concerns about the mental health of cricketers forced to spend weeks on end in bio-secure bubbles have been raised by Tom Banton’s Big Bash League withdrawal.

The Somerset batsman was due to play for Brisbane Heat in the Australian competitio­n later this month but yesterday announced he will instead return home on Thursday from Cape Town along with the rest of England’s one-day squad.

It was prompted by Banton spending much of last summer in England’s on-site bubbles at the Ageas Bowl and Emirates Old Trafford before heading to the Indian Premier League and facing similar conditions with Kolkata in the United Arab Emirates.

It was perhaps a surprise that England then forced him to spend another month behind closed hotel doors here where Banton has acted as a reserve for both the Twenty20 and 50-over squads, likely to head home without playing a single game.

Those players heading to Australia have to spend a 14-day quarantine spell in a hotel room before being allowed to play in the Big Bash after Christmas and it was that which proved a bubble too far for Banton.

‘It has been harder than I thought spending so much time in the hubs and bubbles and I came to the realisatio­n that it wasn’t doing me much good,’ said Banton yesterday. ‘I know the Heat looked after me really well last year and I was confident they would understand when I told them I was going home to regroup.’

Banton, 22, was backed by Brisbane coach Darren Lehmann who said: ‘ Tom is a terrific young man. We know he wouldn’t have made a decision like this without a considerab­le amount of soul-searching. The best option is for him to head home to his loved ones and give himself every chance to recover.’

It is the culminatio­n of a difficult time for one of the best young players in England. He has yet to fully break into England’s white-ball set-up and even came under attack from comedian and actor John Cleese, a lifelong Somerset supporter, for putting the IPL before his county’s appearance in the Bob Willis Trophy final.

But there will be sympathy for him now as cricket tries to come to terms with life in the new normal that is sure to extend to the rest of this winter and tours of Sri Lanka and India.

The next hurdle for England is Sri Lanka where they will play two Tests in Galle next month but face another 14-day quarantine period in Hambantota first, leaving on January 2.

Then England face two months on a tour of red and white-ball matches that are set due to take place in three Indian cities, with their board determined to stage the games themselves rather than relocating to the UAE.

England are resigned to having to again rest senior players to help them cope, with Jofra Archer looking certain to miss Sri Lanka after speaking out against bubbles in the summer.

And on Friday Rory Burns expressed reservatio­ns about bio-secure conditions, saying he is likely to miss at least part of the Sri Lankan tour to be at the birth of his first child.

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