Finch’s concerns for cricket and cricketer’s health

Aaron Finch leads Australia’s first cricket tour of the COVID-19 era taking players to the UK for a series against England.

Aaron Finch leads the Australian white-ball squads to the UK on Sunday Picture: Getty Images

Captain Aaron Finch has been very clear with his players about their responsibilities on their first COVID-19 cricket tour, but is also clear about the game’s responsibilities to the mental health of those who face a summer of harsh restrictions on their movement and behaviour.

“It could be a few months that people are in these bio-bubbles and being stuck in a hotel room by yourself for a couple of weeks on end, or a couple of months, or a few months on end, that can be ­really tough,” Finch said.

“Michael Lloyd from Cricket Australia – he’s the sports psych who travels with us most tours – I know speaking to him he’s been talking to all players individually to make sure they’ve got their own individual plans and understand where to turn and what to do when you feel as though things aren’t going right.

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“Because I definitely feel it’s going to be a real issue and a real factor over the next couple of years in particular.”

Finch and 20 white-ball players leave for the UK on Sunday in a chartered plane. Once there they will enter a biosecurity bubble and be restricted to three venues with hotels attached for the three ODIs and three T20s.

Almost every team sport in every country has suffered from players breaching biosecurity regulations. England bowler Jofra Archer missed a Test against the West Indies after he broke rules when he went home while travelling between Southampton and Manchester.

Finch says the players have a duty to the international game to respect the rigid new rules.

“I’ve been very strong with the guys in the last couple of weeks about making sure that we do literally everything we can with regards to the protocols to keep the global game going,” Finch said.

“Because if that fails then we are all out of jobs and the game is not in a healthy state, which we can’t afford to have. I think there’s been so much time and effort put in by thousands of people to give us the opportunity to play international cricket again, and even us leaving Australia, leaving Victoria, is a big process.

“The people who’ve worked their backside off over the last couple of months to allow it to happen in Australia, in the UK, in India, South Africa, the UAE, wherever it is, thousands of people are doing an unbelievable amount of work to get the game up and running again. So we owe it to them.”

The players in the squad are operating under stage 3 restrictions and face a number of virus checks before leaving Australia. All have had to train separately from their state colleagues.

Pat Cummins has been appointed solo vice-captain for the tour after Finch suggested having Cummins and Alex Carey as deputies was not optimal.

“It’s great for Pat, he’s been a great leader around the squad for a number of years now and his performances on the field go without saying,” Finch said. “The great thing Patty brings is a real calmness to the squad and he’s someone who over the years has been able to separate the off-field stuff with his on-field performance and manages himself really well.

“He brings a different perspective being a bowler as well, with the traditional captains and vice-captains being batsmen, so to have that real close connection to the bowlers is really important as well. I’ve worked with him over the last little while as one of the vice-captains, and that’s taking nothing away from Alex – he did a fantastic job – we just feel that going back to one vice-captain is probably the way forward and simplifies things out in the field when you have one direct line to a vice-captain.”