Not up close, but personal
It is almost five hours before the start of South Africa’s first international match for over eight months and I have a knot in the pit of my stomach the like of which I can only recall before World Cup semi-finals. All three of them.
But this time it has nothing to do with the cricket, as excited as I am to watch the Proteas take on the strongest England limited overs team of all time.
Instead it has everything to do with the circumstances and the unfamiliarity of the build-up to game day. There is no single instance which can be described as stressful, unreasonable or even significantly inconvenient, but together they amount to this feeling of unease.
In times of challenge or hardship the best teams rally around each other and offer encouragement. But while Cricket South Africa’s Operations Team and stadium management come to terms with the unknown and implement protocols previously untried and untested, there is a sense that they are looking for beaches rather than trying to prevent them.
There is as much emphasis on catching transgressors as helping people to tick all the right boxes. I concede that may be harsh and unfair. After all, those armed with thermometers and security instructions are as unfamiliar with the new regulations as those who need to abide by them.
At least we have had the benefit of two England warm-up matches at Newlands and Paarl to experience a taste of ‘bio-secure’ cricket. The man at the gate to Boland Park said I had to log onto the CSA screening App on my phone and answer some questions. After 20 minutes trying unsuccessfully to log in, I looked obviously desperate.
“Can’t register? Neither could anyone else,” he said before taking my temperature and allowing me in. “But you must get it working before the first International otherwise they won’t let you in.”
Technophobes like me struggle with clumsy websites and lose patience too quickly. But this is different. Maybe the App was tweaked, or perhaps it was because I slowed down and went through everything calmly. I am now officially allowed to enter Newlands. I even printed the page, not trusting myself to store it in the right place on my phone.
Eoin Morgan has already done dozens of socially distant media interviews so they are no big deal for the England white-ball captain. He was just my second, so I’m still coming to terms with maintaining eye-contact from five metres and keeping it ‘personal’ without being up close.
Speculating about the composition of the Proteas starting XI is a routine part of match previews but that has been made even more difficult by the anonymity of the two players who tested positive and the two who have been self-isolating as a precaution.
In England Covid cases were named and, in most of the rest of the world, sportsmen – from footballers to cricketers and golfers – have been named after testing positive. CSA chief medical officer, Dr. Shuaib Manjra, explained that South Africa is a bit different to the rest of the world.
“We respect doctor/patient confidentiality. We have a history of TB and Aids in our country which goes back many years and affected millions of people. They both carried considerable stigma and, to a lesser degree, so does Covid-19. Our own government’s guidelines discourage the releasing of names and we are following that protocol,” Manjra said.
Persistent rumours over the last few days suggest that one of those in isolation was at the IPL and would reasonably have been expected to play this evening. If and when his name does not appear on the team sheet, will we be told the reason? I can’t help feeling that not naming the players is likely to create a stigma which might not otherwise have been there.
I suggested to Morgan that England would need to request 15-a-side to their hosts just so they could play all their ‘certain starters’. He laughed. “You don’t realise just how big a challenge it is. It’s a very good problem to have, of course, but it’s also a bit of nightmare to manage.”
Joe Root gives a socially distanced press conference
It’s almost time to leave for Newlands. If I get in without glitches, set up the radio equipment without problems and get through the match without making any errors, it will rate highly on my list of career achievements. Which surprises even me after 30 years in broadcasting.
It is hard not to imagine that some aspect of ‘getting through it’ doesn’t apply to the Proteas, too. Unable to play either of their scheduled practise matches, they have spent the last six days at the Vineyard Hotel using service entrances and fire exits just to reassure the England players that they were safe until the entire home squad tested negative.
If Quinton de Kock’s men look ‘underdone’ in the first game, I will be the first to empathise. Then again, what if they are able to channel all that pent up frustration into bat and ball…
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