Coronavirus outbreak leaves village side stranded in Peru: "There are military personnel everywhere with machine guns"

JAMES COYNE: Stanton Harcourt CC have been trapped in Lima for almost a week after the country was placed in lockdown

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A cricket team from Oxfordshire are stuck in Peru after the country went on lockdown to stop the flow of coronavirus.

Harcourt Lions touring side – made up of eight players from Stanton Harcourt CC and four friends from Australia – are mainly confined to their hotel in Lima after almost all flights to and from the South American country were grounded.

They are anxious to get home to see their loved ones. But they are among 400 British tourists stuck in Peru due to the crisis, after the government issued a lockdown last Sunday. The team were given 24 hours to leave, but the airport was too busy to get on a flight.

The few commercial flights now running out of Lima are reportedly asking £3,000 for a one-way ticket back to London, and A$5,000 back to Melbourne. The UK foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, has asked the Peruvian government to lift restrictions so the stranded Brits can be repatriated.

“It changed overnight,” team member Matty Eagle told The Cricketer.

“We’re allowed out in the day in ones and twos to buy food or go to the pharmacy. But there’s a curfew every day after 8pm and if you’re caught out after that then I think you’d be thrown into prison for 24 hours.

“There are military personnel everywhere with machine guns. It’s eerie walking down the street and seeing the motorway completed empty.

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“We’re all fine and safe at the moment – we’re keeping each other going. But it is a worrying time for everyone, thinking about family back home.

“The reality is that we’re luckier than most. To the outside looking in, it might seem we’re living the life of Riley.

“When the crisis descended we decided we’d change hotel to a better one. Of course, they shut the gym and the pool straight away, but we do have a bar and we’ve had someone propping up the bar consistently throughout.”

Eagle, 27, actually arrived to join the rest of the squad in Lima for the last half of their tour of South America.

“It all kicked off last week, really. It was touch and go whether I should risk it when I left on Thursday [March 12].

“When I landed, people back home were having to self-isolate. But getting into Peru was fine, there were no restrictions, everything was normal.

“Then on Sunday, the lockdown came, without any obvious warning. Which has left us screwed, really. Obviously, if I’d known there was a good chance this would happen so quickly I wouldn’t have flown out.

^{Matty Eagle (right) only joined up with his teammates in South America last week}

“They’re doing the right thing by trying to contain the spread, but it’s unsettling being this far away from home.”

The UK transport secretary Grant Shapps spoke to airlines and airports on Wednesday and said the government expects to announce a series of support measures shortly.

He urged any British passengers overseas planning to return to the UK soon to “take account of the fast-moving situation and plan accordingly while flights remain available”.

The fear is that some stranded people will run out of money while the impasse continues.

Eagle said: “Unfortunately the British Embassy shut on Sunday – so when we needed them most the offices were closed. But they are in talks with the Peruvian government.

“The kind of prices being asked for flights feels like exploitation, really. Most people don’t have that kind of money. I’m not sure if it’s the Peruvian government demanding high fees because of the lack of stock or staff, or if it’s individual airlines exploiting us.

“I’m on a WhatsApp group of 200 other Brits in Lima, and we’re all trying to work out ways to get home. We’re all in contact with our local MPs trying to put pressure on to resolve the situation.

“The Australians seem to be in a worse position. They’ve barely had any information.”

It seems trivial now, but Harcourt Lions have made a habit of embarking on intrepid overseas tours to all corners of the cricketing world. They have toured Australia, South Africa, Sri Lanka and Eastern Europe before leaving for this tour of South America in February.

Back home, their parent club Stanton Harcourt CC field two teams in the Oxfordshire Cricket Association, though like all recreational competitions in England and Wales it is not clear when the season will start. On Wednesday the ECB advised the suspension of all recreational cricket activity until further notice to stop the spread of COVID-19. The professional season is delayed until at least May 28.

^{Harcourt have been in South American since late February}

“We’re a friendly and fairly social club,” said Eagle. “We have a good ethos and we try to socialise with the opposition after games, to keep the tradition of camaraderie in cricket going.

“I’m not even much good at cricket myself, but the social life is what makes it so special.”

Harcourt Lions departed in February for Buenos Aires, Argentina, where they played matches against the Belgrano Athletic Club, St George’s College, Quilmes and the Hurlingham Club. The matches at Belgrano and Hurlingham were played on grass wickets in a country where the cricketing heritage stretches back to the early 19th century.

The tourists travelled on to Brazil for a game and were then able to fulfil two fixtures in Lima – beaten quite comprehensively in one game – and do a little sightseeing before the government lockdown came last Sunday.

They were due to be travelling on to Cusco last Monday to see Macchu Picchu, then fly on to Bogota, Colombia for the last leg of their tour, where the brothers of one of the Australian players lives. But all those plans were thrown out of the window.

Alternative routes out of South America are seemingly closed off to them, as several neighbouring countries have instituted a similar border lockdown in an attempt to get a grip on the virus.

As of Saturday morning, Peru had had 263 reported cases of COVID-19, with four deaths. Colombia has not yet had any fatalities out of 158 reported cases. Argentina has had three deaths among 158 official cases, and Brazil 11 fatalities among 977.

Evita Burned Down Our Pavilion: a cricketing odyssey through Latin America by Timothy Abraham and James Coyne will.be published through Constable