In these unprecedented times, professional cricketers have been forced to get creative. Ravi Bopara, Andrew Salter, Jack Brooks and Chris Rushworth tell NICK FRIEND how they have been coping with the uncertainty
In normal circumstances, Ravi Bopara would be preparing for the start of a fresh challenge; in October, he left Essex to join Sussex, 17 years after making his debut for the Chelmsford county.
Instead of ramping up his pre-season work on the back of a stint in the Pakistan Super League, however, on Monday evening, Bopara tweeted to the world that Sam’s Chicken would be offering free food to all National Health Service staff.
The chain has franchises stretching from Watford to the Isle of Wight; as per government guidelines, the restaurants are open at the moment as takeaway services only. And while the allrounder recognises the financial hit that will come with the deal for the company – especially in these uncertain times, it is about far more than that.
“I don’t think it’s a particularly tough decision to make, to be honest,” he tells The Cricketer. “It affects your cashflow and that sort of stuff, but you’ve got to look over that. It’s the greater good, isn’t it?
“They’ve been working hard for us lot, for everybody. It’s only right that we give back, and we have.”
On the first evening of the offer, there were close to 100 takers. On Tuesday, its first full day, there were 300 more.
Set up 30 years ago by Sam Chandrasinghe, Bopara invested in the Tooting branch, with St George's Hospital nearby, almost a decade ago – unusually perhaps, the fulfilment of a long-time ambition.
“Sam is quite a good friend of mine,” he tells The Cricketer. “I used to eat at Sam’s Chicken growing up when I was at school. I always said that I wanted to have my own chicken shop, so I didn’t have to pay for the chicken.
“And then, there came a time where it was almost the perfect time to get one and I happened to know Sam as well.”
His brother and parents are more involved on a day-to-day basis as Bopara goes about his cricket, though he pops in when the time allows.
Right now, however, the start of the campaign has never felt further away; his new head coach Jason Gillespie is in isolation in Australia, having flown home earlier this week.
Dear NHS staff, your chicken is on me for your hard work in these tough times. 😁 pic.twitter.com/blBwedX0fI
— Ravi Bopara (@ravibopara) March 23, 2020
“It’s just weird,” Bopara adds. “It’s almost like the season has just ended. Guys have got nothing to do now. I think the worst bit is having no facilities to do anything in – no gym, nothing.
“It’s a strange one because there might not be any cricket this summer. It’s so weird sitting at home this late in March, coming up to April, knowing there’s not going to be anything going on. A lot of players might struggle with it because you’re not used to it.
“There’s something exciting about pre-season normally because you know what you’re working towards.
“Everyone wants to start well and everyone is back on a level playing field at the start of a season. But to have that ripped away from you by this virus is probably going to leave a lot of cricketers feeling lost over the next month or so.”
***
“From my initial tweet when I was just typing away on the laptop and asking how to play the swinging ball, I got about 600 likes, which pretty much tripled my previous best,” laughs Andrew Salter.
“That was when we got to T20 Finals Day, so I don’t know what that says about what my followers think of my cricket!”
The Glamorgan offspinner was among the first to leap into the Twittersphere after it was announced last Friday that no cricket would be played before May 28. Dressed in whites and complete with his helmet, he photographed himself sat in front of a laptop alongside the caption: Googles: ‘How to play the swinging ball’.
Three more have since followed, with others in the offing; one portrayed him practising his leave – or rather following government advice to ‘avoid unnecessary driving’. Another showed him standing ‘in the corridor of uncertainty’. The most recent showed him taking a catch while lying in bed – ‘fielding in the covers’.
It is a little bit of fun at a bleak time; nothing more, nothing less – a light-hearted means of poking fun at the difficulties that come with working from home as a professional cricketer. But there is an intriguing backstory to Salter’s creativity – the like of which will help him through this period.
The 26-year-old co-runs Baffle Culture, a motorcycle brand and a venture beyond his playing duties and those as Glamorgan’s PCA representative.
“I cover a lot of the social channels for that,” he explains – their Instagram viewership has swelled beyond 9,000 followers.
“Doing this just tied in quite nicely to my personal development angle with marketing and graphic design.
“It is a time for players to make inroads into that personal development and do those online courses. Our hand is slightly forced to do that, which can’t be a bad thing. Mine just happens to be a bit more about online creativity.”
In February, he was recognised by the PCA with an award, owing to the growth of the business – now a limited company just three years on from its days as a solitary social media account.
Andrew Salter runs his own business, Baffle Culture, alongside his cricket
It is a passion that exploded while at university four years ago, curiously, after watching David Beckham star in Into the Unknown, a documentary following the former England football captain as he headed into the depths of South America. “They rode these custom Triumphs and we just thought: ‘God that’s cool,’” Salter recalls.
“It wasn’t much more than that – riding motorbikes on these custom builds with sunnies on. I started an Instagram page with the styling that I liked – it was quite retro and just what appealed to me. It just so happened that manufacturers in the industry at the same time were producing retro-style motorbikes.
“We started riding locally and met a couple of guys; four years later, it’s moving along nicely. This current situation actually gives me time to crack on with that and see what the real world of work looks like.”
He has developed a converted garage space that now acts as a base and a clubhouse for motorcycling culture in Wales. The pandemic has forced Salter to postpone events that had been waiting in the pipeline, though that has given him the opportunity to focus on expanding his online presence.
“It feels like that sort of time, where everyone is a bit more glued to their screens, yearning to get outside in the sun,” he adds. “Motorcycling-wise, it’s such a big one at the moment because we’ve been waiting for months for these dry roads and for the sun to pop out and a lot of guys are probably a bit restless indoors.”
*Googles “how to play the swinging ball”#workfromhome @GlamCricket @CountyChamp @VitalityBlast @ECB_cricket @PCA pic.twitter.com/ndaqChY20l
— Andrew Salter (@AndySalts) March 18, 2020
The project is a silver lining alongside the heavy cloud hovering over life as a professional cricketer during this period of uncertainty.
“Cricketing careers are challenging,” he reflects. “You’re forever dealing with highs and lows in the game. This will be a challenge to everyone, but it’s just another one to overcome. The creative cricketers hashtag has really kicked off and there have been some great examples on the Twittersphere.
“It’s randomly come about and I’ve quite enjoyed doing it and thinking about what the next post might be. Some mates have started sending in some ideas.
“As the tank starts to empty,” he chuckles with a nod to his other love, “hopefully someone will add a bit more fuel for me.”
***
Few cricketers have been as active on social media as Chris Rushworth in recent days. The Durham stalwart, a taker of 69 County Championship wickets in 2019, has set up his own YouTube account to provide coaching tips for youngsters, as well as demonstrating how else they can remain active even with a nationwide lockdown in place.
As a club, Durham have been lively since the ECB confirmed the delay to the beginning of the domestic calendar. The county’s official Twitter account has posted a video each day of a player performing and explaining drills and activities.
On Tuesday afternoon, it was revealed that Emirates Riverside would close to the general public and all non-essential staff, with the venue instead offered out to the NHS and local council. Kent have done similar.
“I think everyone knew that the place was going to close down, but to be able to give over the facilities and let the NHS use it, well done to everyone in charge,” Rushworth tells The Cricketer.
“It’s not just our region or our area where it’s like that; you see everyone coming together. I guess you have to at times like this. We’re all in it together. We’re all going through the same situation. We have to try to stick together as a community and a country.”
The seamer has been housebound since Friday, looking after his two children and attempting to educate them at home ever since schools shut their doors.
“I have a newfound respect for school teachers, that’s for sure,” he says with a wry chuckle. “I was chatting to my wife about it earlier; it’s tough. We’re trying to teach them as teachers but we’re not teachers.
“I don’t know if we’ve gone in with too high expectations of what to expect from the kids. Being told what to do in terms of schoolwork by your mum and dad, there’s only so much they’re willing to listen to.
“It’s a case of trying to keep them occupied and keep them having fun, which is why we’ve set up these things around the house to keep them engaged as well – just mixing in a little bit of learning amongst these games. We don’t want to overload them too much with schoolwork; no one is going to enjoy that, especially when you’re in your own home. It’s just trying to get the balance right of doing some work and trying to stay happy, healthy and active.”
.jpg)
One of county cricket's most familiar - and menacing - sights...
The roots of a desire to help people through this are twofold: he coached through the winter, which gave him a taste for it all; more pertinent, however, is an awareness of the struggles with mental health that will come as part of the weeks and months ahead.
“At times like this, when people can’t go outside and something they love gets taken away from them – for instance, sport and exercise – it just seemed like there would be a big boom in poor mental health,” he explains.
“It was just trying to help with that as much as possible and to try and keep kids active. My kids are pretty active, so for them to be stuck in the house was always going to be quite challenging. If we can help and show that there are ways of staying active while staying at home, every little helps.
“Some people aren’t clued up to the activities, games and that kind of stuff. It’s just a way of trying to help everyone – not just the cricket public, but anyone who needs any help, guidance or anything like that, just obviously with a strong cricket focus behind it all.”
***
Jack Brooks was sat in his bedroom in Taunton when he came up with the idea for his Brooks Busters, a series of cricketing dingbats that might help to pass the time for those seeking sport of some kind, whatever the format.
He had finished his workouts for the day and Dom Bess, his housemate, was playing video games downstairs.
Less than a week later, he was preparing a batch for Oxford United’s official Twitter feed, focusing on club legends – he made Ron Atkinson from Anchorman’s Ron Burgundy and Tottenham’s Son Heung-Min.
He supports the club and knows the media manager. If nothing else, the appetite for his homemade picture quizzes have highlighted the urge for sport among fans and players alike.
“I didn’t realise that it would be as well accepted as it was,” he laughs. “I did it because I was really bored, so I thought it would be funny just to do a few.
“Seeing how well it went down, I threw a few more out on top of the first batch I did and then a few people got in touch with me privately, just going: ‘When are the next ones? I need more, I need more.’ I was like: ‘Wow, people who like cricket are just gagging for any sort of content.’
“I didn’t realise people were just sat there scrolling aimlessly, wanting something to do. I did another two days’ worth – I did quite a lot, I found it quite easy to do, quite therapeutic. Some of them are really difficult and some of them are pretty easy. I’ve tried to make them funny and entertaining as well. I had a bit of fun with it, but I was quite wary of overkill as well.”
Right last one... (unless @BrooksyFerret feels like making more *nudge*)
— Oxford United FC (@OUFCOfficial) March 25, 2020
Who am I? #OUFC #BrooksBusters pic.twitter.com/am4vvIA2z5
He is considering turning to anagrams next as these particular creative fuels run dry. The idea stemmed from an appearance at a West Country Question of Sport evening, where he took part alongside Exeter Chiefs rugby players and Exeter City footballers.
There is a more serious side to the questions as well. “It engages people’s brain,” he says, “and if you’ve had a long day of doing nothing, it’s something that provides a bit of light relief for half an hour.”
Brooks is up in north London now, well aware of the wider picture at play. He has spent the winter recovering from an Achilles injury, and so it feels like some time since he last bowled a ball in anger.
“I haven’t got access to a physio anymore but I’m not too worried, to be honest,” he admits. “I’d just rather the world is all right. It’s not really been my priority, which is quite nice to get it off my mind.
“I’d rather there was cricket to be played, people getting on with their lives and not risking their health.
“The buildup to the cricket season is always quite fun; you get a bit anxious, excited, apprehensive. You never know what’s going to happen; but because there’s no end date at the minute, people are just scratching their heads.”
***
As much as anything, the challenge facing county cricketers now centres around the unknown. “I’m not going to lie,” Rushworth admits, “it is a scary place for a cricketer because no one knows what’s going to happen.”
The announcement that professional cricket would not be played until May 28 – the day on which the T20 Blast was scheduled to start, but also seven rounds into a County Championship season that was due to commence on April 12 – has offered a clarity of sorts. In truth, it is as much precision as can be given in an ever-changing situation.
For a seasoned campaigner like Rushworth, whose bread and butter is the red-ball format in which he has developed into such a consistently lethal asset, the doubt has multiplied.
Should any cricket be possible, the ECB has already confirmed that international cricket, the T20 Blast and The Hundred will be prioritised. Tim Bostock, chief executive at Rushworth’s county, told TalkSPORT’s Cricket Collective on Tuesday that those competitions and formats had to be put first because “that’s where the revenue is” and “there’s an absolute financial imperative for that”.
It leaves open the very real possibility that, for the first time since 1945, the County Championship might not be contested.
“For counties, the shorter formats are the money-makers,” Rushworth, who didn’t play T20 cricket in 2019, knows. “It’s a strange one to know what’s going to happen and where I’m going to fit in. It’s all the unknown – everything is at the minute.
“We started training in November and you work all winter for this end of March period for everything to start. All of a sudden, it’s just taken away from you. But everyone is trying to make something the best of a horrible situation. Lots of people are doing things to stay active.”
Launched my @YouTube channel today.
— Chris Rushworth (@ChrisRush22) March 22, 2020
The aim is to keep kids active at home during this isolation/social distancing period.
Basic cricket skills and some fun games and activities for all ages and abilities. Pls RT@DurhamCricket @Martycricket@legsidelizzyhttps://t.co/kBH1ni7wXY
The PCA have been in overdrive, sending out emails and regular pieces of information. Rushworth, Salter and Bopara are all quick to sing the praises of the organisation.
In Salter’s case as Glamorgan’s representative on the PCA committee, a role that has seen him busier than most. Questions around salaries, wages and monthly payments have understandably cropped up regularly, as well as how a truncated season might ultimately look.
Other players – those on red-ball or white-ball-only contracts and approaching the final season of their agreements – face an uncertain time.
Tymal Mills shifted to a pay-as-you-play deal ahead of this season at Sussex. Restricted to short-format cricket by a congenital back condition, he would lose out dramatically in the worst-case scenario of a complete season abandonment. “Just looking at the next five months or so, that is a bit of a worry,” he told The Independent.
The PCA runs a 24-hour confidential helpline which provides mental health support via the Sporting Chance charity set up by former Arsenal captain Tony Adams.
Sporting Minds UK, a mental health awareness charity set up to help young sports people, is accelerating its plan to offer its free services to every county, as well as to the PCA. It was founded by 19-year-old Callum Lea, who has represented Worcestershire up to second team level.
“Any mental health service that we can offer with Bupa and Be Empowered UK, we’re going to be offering that to all the counties and contacting them so that it will be free for them to use, so that hopefully they can take that first step of trying to manage athlete wellbeing through these uncertain times,” Lea says.
“As we know, a lot of competitive and professional athletes are very driven to their sport, so a lot of energy goes into it. A redirection of that energy is going to have to come if they can’t play their sport.”
Durham's Emirates Riverside ground is closed to the public and non-essential staff, but has been offered to the NHS and local council during the coronavirus crisis
It is here that Bopara believes county cricketers will be hardest hit. Pre-season friendlies were due to begin this week, with the former England batsman’s new Sussex side scheduled to face Hampshire and Surrey on March 26 and 27. Athletes are creatures of routine and habit, suddenly without one.
“I think that’s what will really disturb people – that’s what will really start hitting home,” he suggests. “It’s the fact that we won’t have a routine. The routine is by April travelling on a bus, getting ready for a game of cricket, that changing room environment. That’s what you’re used to.
“There are bigger things than cricket. But if you look at it now, you almost realise the importance of cricket as well. There are people sitting at home, saying: ‘We’re bored – there’s no sport.’ It’s all I’ve heard people say. It just shows you how big a scale sport is on. People need it. It makes a massive difference to people’s lives. Some people struggle without it.”
That said, the spread of COVID-19 and the impact of the virus worldwide have provided an almighty dose of perspective, well beyond the cricketing sphere.
As of Thursday evening, the number of confirmed cases across the globe has passed 450,000, with 20,549 people losing their lives.
“Within professional cricket, it’s quite easy to fall into a bubble where you’re just training and looking forward to a season,” Salter reflects. “It’s easy to become a little bit narrow-minded. With everything going on, you’re able to see a bigger perspective on what’s really important.
“I suppose the biggest one at the moment is just the health of friends and family – all these things that we take for granted. If there’s anything to take from this situation so far, it’s understanding that we’re in a very privileged position. Professional cricket isn’t the be all and end all.
“There are some things of major importance outside of the game. This is just a harsh reminder of what they look like. I’m fortunate – there are four of us in a house, we’ve got a garden. They’re the little things.
“My family and my missus are self-employed; at the moment, there are big questions around the security there. These are issues that people around the country are facing.”
“It’s a massive unknown,” Rushworth adds. “But my family are all sitting healthy, which is a blessing.
“I’ve got a guy who I played cricket with a long time ago. His mum has got the virus and she’s not very well. When you hear of stories like that which are pretty close to you, you have to take your blessings when they come.”
Welcome to www.thecricketer.com - the online home of the world’s oldest cricket magazine. Breaking news, interviews, opinion and cricket goodness from every corner of our beautiful sport, from village green to national arena.