Proteas in Sri Lanka, day 2

The more things change, the more they stay the same. It’s an old French proverb. But the only thing which stayed the same today was that South Africa’s cricket media received another player interview through the post. Well, on email. We’re all in quarantine in Sri Lanka so it doesn’t matter where in the world we listen.

Tabraiz Shamsi used to dread media interviews. Now he has embraced them and has become both informative and entertaining. His time playing in England’s ‘The 100’ competition meant he only joined the team for the flight to Sri Lanka missing the pre-tour camp but he avoided no questions and provided a delightfully upbeat note – as he always does. Instead of sitting behind my laptop in Cape Town listening, I did so in my executive cell south of Colombo.

Shamsi said he’d learned ‘a few new tricks’ in The Hundred which was ‘similar but a bit faster’ than T20 cricket and that his dislike of flying had not improved on the flight from Jo’burg to Colombo, via Doha, as he clung on to his seat, sweating, during the turbulence. 

He said it was a ‘cliché’ talking about the dream of playing for your country but, nonetheless, it was true and although he ‘would not lie’ about his ‘excitement’ after his recent contract with the Rajasthan Royals for the second half of the IPL, playing for South Africa remained his ‘ultimate dream.’

Shamsi was diplomatic but not evasive when asked about the resignation of Proteas assistant coach, Enoch Nkwe, shortly before the tour: “I wasn’t with the team, obviously it’s sad but I’m sure he has his reasons and we respect his decision just as we respect the fact that he wishes us all the best for the tour and the future.”

Mostly it is easier to unearth the reality of a situation with a connection of eyeballs, without screens, but sometimes the aversion of eye-contact helps. An extremely informed source told me today that Nkwe was upset that the comments attributed to his departure had been taken out of context. If they had contributed to an inflation of the already volatile Proteas camp atmosphere, he might have corrected them. He was said to be keen not to ‘make matters worse.’ I suspect saying nothing has done exactly that.

Anyway, the view from the hotel room gets better and worse by the hour as I finish quarantine day two. Never mind the lavish pool, the beach and the beautiful Sri Lankan Ocean, just 50 metres away, looks more and more enticing. The waves seem to be getting louder. That makes it worse. 

I mentioned yesterday that Sri Lanka’s Covid Command Control was being run by the Military Police, of whom there is an abundance. Perhaps a relic of the Civil War with the Tamils all those years ago. The medical officers assigned to our production team are also from the Military and they are most certainly applying full army vigour to their mission. 

The PCR and Lateral Flow tests we underwent before entry to the hotel yesterday, double nasal with both, were performed with a strenuous determination to explore new depths. The equally strong nose-bleed I developed affronted my military tester who told me to “wipe quickly” before he continued. I would have mentioned it yesterday but I didn’t  want to concern anybody who hasn’t been tested and needs to be. 75 of my 77 tests have been painless and, as nobody else I know has nose-bled, it’s clearly just a me who has problem. 

Until tomorrow…         

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