COVID-19 & CRICKET

South Africa's players home alone with their fitness programmes

by Telford Vice • Published on Thu, Apr 2, 2020, 05:24 PM

South Africa's next assignment is in June. © Getty

South Africa's players and their compatriots aren't often in the same boat, but the stars are as up the creek without a paddle as everyone else during the 21 days of stringent lockdown that the country has been plunged into by the coronavirus outbreak.

Only workers considered essential are still at their jobs. No-one may leave their homes unless they are seeking medical treatment, collecting social grants, or buying food. Even that has its perils, what with police have fired potentially lethal rubber bullets at people queuing too closely together at supermarket doors.

Exercising outside is prohibited. Outdoor nets are windblown and desolate. Indoor nets are sterile and silent. In gyms, of which we have many up and down the land, nothing moves. No sweat is shed, no iron is pumped, no lycra strains.

The virus has been kind to cricket here in that it has struck at the end of the season. South Africa aren't due on the field until June, when they are scheduled to play six white-ball games in Sri Lanka. But, if that venture goes ahead, the players won't be able to give their best if all they've done for several weeks is sit on the couch, watch television and eat and drink. So they have been charged with maintaining their fitness at home alone.

"Training and communication has to be done remotely, and that's a challenge," the national men's team's strength and conditioning coach, Tumi Masekela, said in an audio file released by Cricket South Africa (CSA) on Thursday. "We can't, as we do in normal training, continuously assess players and adjust programmes accordingly. Now everything's over the telephone. We're making specialised programmes for them to maintain the fitness they've built so they're ready to get back into competition when dates are set for our next competition."

Although the players will feel as cooped up as other South Africans who could be arrested for daring to take a run or walk their dogs before the restrictions are lifted on April 16 - if they are not extended - they do have advantages. "They are fitness-crazy, so they need you to channel them in the right direction to get the right results, and to prevent injury and enhance performance," Masekela said. "Most of them have proper gyms at home, so they're easier to work with. The one big thing is their running volume. I want to build up a good aerobic base. That's a lot of running or cycling or swimming."

That's important regardless of whether the pandemic is brought to heel sooner or later, Masekela said: "A cure could be synthesised in the next week or the lockdown could flatten the curve [of the rate of infection] quite quickly, and we could find ourselves back into our schedules quite quickly. The players need to be able to participate immediately once everything is lifted. If the virus does take a long time to settle down we don't want our players to lose any of the fitness base they've built. It's crucial to continue with their training programmes. These guys have worked a lot over years to get to where they are and they wouldn't want to lose that. It's also good for the players to maintain a healthy lifestyle. If, God forbid, they do contract Covid-19, you have a better chance to fight the virus if your immune system is functioning optimally."

In another audio file, CSA's chief medical officer, Shuaib Manjra, explained the measures taken to stop the virus gaining a foothold within South Africa's squad after they returned on March 18 from their tour of India - which they left without playing the last two of three planned ODIs. "Upon arrival, as a precautionary measure, the Proteas were placed into self-quarantine for a period of 14 days, as per the recommendations," Manjra said. "During this period we continued to monitor the players for signs and symptoms of the disease. Thankfully all the players were symptom-free and those who opted to perform the test returned negative results. We thus consider all of the players out of the quarantine period. However they remain under government directives during the lockdown period."

Professional cricketers are among the most privileged people anywhere, including in South Africa. Last week, in a video he shared on his Instagram account to offer moral support and promote the thorough and regular washing of hands, AB de Villiers spoke from a room at his home that seemed liberally kitted out with gym equipment. This week he spoke from what looked like his own backyard putting green. Given those comforts, it's no doubt easier to avoid the cabin fever that is setting in among most of De Villiers' fellow citizens a week into being put under what amounts to house arrest. That's for those lucky enough to have homes to shelter in in the most unequal society in the world.

But, helpfully, Masekela offered us civilians advice for how to get through this with our minds, as well as our bodies, in decent shape: "Exercise is an essential part of everyday life. It should be prioritised, especially during these 21 days because your normal movement is minimised. So you need to make sure you keep moving and do some form of exercise every day. Prioritise 20 minutes in your day for exercise. When your train you release endorphins, your natural happy pill. That's something we can all do with during this lockdown period."

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South Africa's players home alone with their fitness programmes

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