Australian captains Tim Paine and Aaron Finch commented about the coronavirus pandemic and how it has affected the country’s cricketers. Finch, the team’s limited-overs captain, said Australia’s travel advisory released Tuesday leaves things complicated for those in the world who have Indian Premier League (IPL) teams contracting.
The IPL’s 2020 season has been postponed from launch on April 15 and Finch, who was signed up this season by Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), said that under the circumstances it’s hard to schedule anything.
“We’ve never seen something like this,” Finch told a leading Sports website. “This (travel advice) has changed in the last few hours. It might change in two weeks or three weeks, it’s hard to schedule something, but it’s all about making sure everyone around you personally is safe and you’re doing whatever you can to stop the spread,” he said.
Paine said that while he would love to be playing for Tasmania in the Sheffield Shield now, for reasons greater than cricket, the suspension right now is.
“I know it’s hard but it’s something we should all take very seriously. I’d love to be playing for Tasmania right now in the hunt for the Sheffield Shield final and there’s no question our Australian men’s team would love to be in Hobart trying to bring back the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy. Definitely our women’s world championship team would love to be in South Africa,” he said.
“But we’re not and for a very, very good reason. As hard as it is at the moment for all cricketers, I think it’s time to take a break. I know it’s much tougher this time of year because you have finals and trophies on the line and it’s all there to win but it’s bigger than us, bigger than cricket game. I hope we all go back to playing the game we love and the way we want to go about our lives as soon as possible, but in the meantime, please take care of yourself, take care of others and let us ride this out together. The best of it all” he added.
