Australia batsman David Warner has made it clear that it will be very difficult to tour abroad regularly if the Covid-19 pandemic continues.
Speaking to the media on Monday, four days before the India-Australia One-day International series starts, Warner said that the past six months have been challenging with the family, not by his side and the Australian players will have to be brave enough to voice this concern to selectors and coach.
“It will be very difficult. I won’t put them in a situation where I have to do 14-day quarantine at home. The next 12 months are going to be very difficult. There are definitely going to be times when you come home and want to spend time with your family. But you have 14-day quarantine that you have to do beforehand, so you are almost out of the conversation. So, we will have to speak to the coach and selectors. Each individual is going to be brave and put their hand up and say it will be difficult to do that,” the dashing opener said.
Australia pace bowler Mitchell Starc recently shifted to Big Bash Village in Sydney Olympic Park to be with their wife Alyssa Healy who is playing in the Big Bash. Start decided to spend a week with her and train.
Warner, like other players, is locked up in quarantine in a hotel and hasn’t had time to see his wife and three kids. He said that they will be format-specific in the coming few months.
“That is something we have identified as players and coaching staff already. When you look at our ODI and T20 team. The squads they [selectors] are picking are going to be pretty relevant to what they will field for the next couple of [T20] World Cups [in 2021 in India and 2022 in Australia]. For us, it is about if we can take time off between those two series. The preference is playing those World Cups and gearing up in the right way to perform in the tournament. The preference for the next two years would be the World Cup. Then we will gear up for the 50-over World Cup in India,” he added.
Warner also made it clear that it will be difficult for him to play in the Big Bash League which starts in the first half of December.
“It is hard to play everything when it comes to scheduling. It is difficult to play all these games, playing white-ball cricket, Tests, and BBL. IPL and World T20 have been moved. It is for the guys above us to work that out. The IPL was moved and the T20 World Cup was moved. In the next year, at the back-end, we have the Test Championship final. Yeah, there are only two teams in the final playing but still after that series in Australia we go to the Caribbean.”
Australia begins the limited-overs series on November 27 and ends on December 8. The Tests begin on December 17 and go on till January 19. The series will be shown live on Sony Ten 1, Sony Ten 3, and Sony Six.
