Could MIQ KO Proteas tour?
PLUS: Young, young dames, and a short and sunburnt Notes From The Oval #3
Make the most of these two Bangladesh tests because they could be the last of the summer.
South Africa’s tour to New Zealand later this summer is far from certain to go ahead, with the Proteas’ exhausted players reluctant to go through MIQ.
Multiple sources described the prospect of the tour as 50:50, though an NZC spokesman said this was overstating it.
“At this stage they’re coming, everything is organised,” the spokesman said. “They have their MIQ spots booked and we have talked to them in the last week.”
The Proteas are scheduled to play two tests in February to be hosted at Hagley Oval and the Basin Reserve. The players are no doubt doing internal mathematics weighing up the benefits of a minimum of 10 days in MIQ against a maximum of 10 days cricket.
There is genuine concern about the welfare of athletes subjected to long periods of isolation and touring in bubble life.
In a piece for CODE Sport ($), former England captain Alastair Cook said the effect of playing the last 18 months in bio-secure bubbles cannot be underestimated as a cause for their wretched Ashes performance.
While teams that tour New Zealand do not have to play or live in a bio-bubble, they do have to do 10 days of managed isolation.
A well-placed source told The Bounce that they thought South Africa’s players would push to have the tour rescheduled to a post-Covid world rather than go through MIQ.
If that proves to be the case, the only other men’s international cricket scheduled for the home summer is a white-ball tour from The Netherlands and three T20s against Australia in March.
There is little to zero chance the Proteas MIQ process will be expedited.
While South Africa’s case numbers are dropping, they peaked at 24,000 new cases a day in the middle of December. In total they have had 3.5m cases and are approaching 100,000 deaths. With just over a quarter of the country’s eligible population vaccinated, Covid has painted a grim picture in the republic.
MORE THAN A TANTRUM
One of the biggest stories in American sport was the bizarre, career-ending behaviour of NFL wide receiver Antonio Brown. During the Tampa Bay Buccaneers game against the New York Jets this morning he refused to take the field when asked by his coach Bruce Arians, instead choosing to take off his playing jersey, shoulder pads and undershirt and leave the stadium.
“He’s no longer a Buc,” Arians deadpanned after the match.
The brilliant former Steeler, Raider and Patriot has a history of erratic behaviour including:
Being accused of sexual assault;
Being charged with felony burglary and battery;
Getting frostbite in his feet following cryotherapy;
Being suspended for violating personal conduct policy;
Being suspended after forging a vaccination card;
Being dumped or traded by four teams.
When is anybody going to make the connection that’s staring the league in the face… it would be the height of irresponsibility for another team to hire his services but you can almost guarantee somebody will because the man has talent.
AN AUSTRALIAN CRICKET STORY
EARLY, EARLY GONGS?
What exactly is the criteria to be made a knight or a dame? I ask this not to be facetious but because I haven’t talked to a single person yet who has thought it anything but super-weird that Lisa Carrington and Sophie Pascoe, two active athletes who are excellent at the very thing they train to be excellent at, were made dames.
I’m jaundiced in that I find the whole honours palaver a pointless remnant from days of Albion, but if they’re the sort of thing that floats your boat, then surely they come with a built-in public service expectation. Neither Carrington or Pascoe have had time to create an off- or out-of-the-water legacy because they’re still doing the thing they’re funded to do.
None of this takes away from the fact they’re remarkable athletes and if you want to argue that Carrington has surpassed Peter Snell - who was made a knight in 2009, when he was 70 - then I’m happy to listen, but what an earth is the rush. Trailblazer Yvette Corlett (nee Williams) received a damehood the day before she died; Ruia Morrison, another true pioneer, was 84 when she was made a dame.
If it’s true that Richie McCaw turned one down while he was still playing, then I have even more respect for him.
(* And in case you’re wondering, yes I believe Richard Hadlee was knighted too early, but he’s certainly done enough since his playing days to earn the honorific.)
NOTES FROM THE OVAL #3
I don’t have a lot to offer from the Bay Oval beyond the fact that the case for dropping Ajaz Patel is looking thinner by the day.
Oh, and Bangladesh - 401-6 in reply to New Zealand’s 328 - are playing out of their collective skin and deserve every bit of luck they get in this match.
Oh, and finally, talking about bubble and MIQ fatigue, New Zealand have looked weirdly disconnected during this test. I’m sure they’re missing Kane Williamson’s leadership (and batting), but this is an experienced side who are normally excellent at home who just do not look at the races.
Of all the things I anticipated happening in this test, New Zealand batting again on the fourth day with little option but to bat to save the test was not one of them.
Great to concentrate on the bubble burnout and MIQ mental health issues. Quentin de Kok’s retirement from test cricket at 29 just one sign. Hard enough to spend months overseas away from family, but add in MIQ and it’s a nightmare. I suspect that exhaustion was a factor in the tired and weak final All Black performances in the end of year tour.
Ditto the Honours...........Great women achieving so much at their chosen proffesion but I suggest others more deserving who have not had the glare of such fame...........