Eric Simons, IPL 2020

Focus on the tournament....and pot plants

It may be an exaggeration to say that the Corona virus is no longer on our minds but it is true that it no longer dominates every conversation. It is part of our daily lives, today I had my 5th Covid test since arriving here, and the routines are still unusual but, with just a week to go until the first match, we are now talking a lot more cricket than Covid.

We were issued with tracking devices to be worn around our necks whenever we left our hotel rooms but our physiotherapist has been very creative in turning them in to 'watches' so at least that doesn't feel restrictive.

The vast majority of matches will be played in the evenings, just as they are in India, so that’s when we have been practicing which is far more pleasant than the brutal heat of the day.

The practise pitches which have been prepared for us have all been unusually green and grassy for this part of the world which we are taking to be a sign of things to come, at least for the first half of the tournament. Staging over 60 matches at just three venues means the pitches will take a lot of strain so the plan is obviously to start with as much ‘protection’ on them as possible.

We all like to believe we have well-balanced squads which can compete – and win – whatever the conditions but we might well see those with a strong pace attack making fast starts, especially as I expect batsmen to take a little longer than bowlers to settle back into the groove after the break, and those who are more used to batting and bowling on slower, drier pitches catching up with victories in the second month.

Lower scores might well be the order of the day and that might suit our more experienced squad. Strange as it seems, when chasing a score of 180 plus can be less stressful because the match situation pretty much dictates tactics of how you go about a chase but in tough wickets with low scoring matches experience and calm heads are needed.

We’ll certainly have a lot more options once we’ve got our full squad here and in training. We still have one man in quarantine for a couple of days and we await the arrivals of Dwayne Bravo, Mitch Sandtner and Imran Tahir from the Caribbean Premier League in the next day or two. We will finally be complete when Josh Hazlewood and Sam Curran land in the charter plane from England on September 17.

We are hearing – although its not confirmed yet – that they will also have to self-isolate in their rooms for six days and produce negative tests on the first, third and sixth days before they can join us. We had hoped that they could all move from their current bio-secure bubbles into ours but it seems likely that there will be no ‘leniency’, which is understandable. Apart from our brilliant Indian players, led by the ageless MS Dhoni, we do have Shane Watson, Faf du Plessis and Lungi Ngidi in full training so there’s no shortage of talent.

We still haven’t been allowed to meet or chat with any of the other Franchises – just waving across the field at training. We’re all looking forward to every little piece of normality as and when they return and, despite the intense competitiveness of the IPL, the social aspect something we all enjoy.

We’ve had some fascinating conversations within our own squad. Just a couple of days ago the four South Africans, including our fitness trainer Greg King, sat with three Aussies an Indian and a Kiwi discussing what the BLM movement meant to all of us. Lungi and Faf were also asked about the Protea ‘Culture Camp’ and what was achieved.

With so few distractions (no golf is going to hurt quite a few people!) we’ve had more time than ever before to discuss aspects of the game, from an analysis and coaching point of view. Here is a question that has been thrown up for you to consider:

“Would it be easier for a batsman to play a ball when they see a bowler deliver a ball and when it has traveled one meter the lights go off OR would it be easier to have the bowler deliver the ball in darkness and after it has traveled a meter the lights go on.” So which is easier, see the ball bowled and just one meter or the19 odd meters. Its useful for a bowler to understand how a batsman gets information. I will give you the outcome of our discussion and why we discussed it next week

We’ve all been in the same hotel room for almost three weeks now. And we’ve spent a lot of time in them! And we have another nine weeks to go. I’m beginning to consider buying a couple of pot plants, maybe a painting or two. Maybe rearrange some of the furniture…