England stars open up about Covid bubble struggles after Collingwood’s warning

England’s assistant coach Paul Collingwood has issued a stark warning about the potential long-term effects of Covid bubbles – and he’s been backed up by two players

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England stars Chris Jordan and Tom Banton have opened up about the difficulties of bubble life after assistant coach Paul Collingwood voiced his concerns over the potential long-term effects it may have on cricketers.

Since cricket first returned during the pandemic in July 2020 with their Test series against the West Indies, England have played more games than any other nation.

Their packed schedule culminated in a trip to the UAE for the T20 World Cup and then a gruelling Ashes series down under.

Jos Buttler, Jonny Bairstow, Dawid Malan, Chris Woakes and Mark Wood were involved in both the World Cup and the Ashes and spent almost four months away from home dealing with a variety of different restrictions.

Malan, for example, was unable to have his family join him for the Ashes tour as his wife, Claire, was heavily pregnant and she ended up giving birth to their daughter, Summer Skye, six weeks early while Malan was still in Australia.

Collingwood, who is standing in for head coach Chris Silverwood during the ongoing T20I series against the West Indies, spoke openly about the difficulties of living in a bubble for such a long time.

“I just hope there are no ramifications moving forward because when they come, they won’t be obvious next week or the week after,” Collingwood said earlier this week. “These are things that might come out down the line. That’s what scares me.

“The simple fact is you cannot walk out of your front door and, as soon as you’re told that you cannot do something as simple as going for a coffee and you are penned in with the same guys, it hits you.

“I almost think it is too late to get these messages across. These sorts of things should have been brought out in the middle of last summer.

“We saw the signs then when boys were fading and it is not healthy for the game. This isn’t just us.

“We have obviously played the most amount of cricket, but it will catch up with other teams as well.”

Following Collingwood’s comments, both Banton and Jordan have now opened about the struggles of living in a bubble.

Banton may be on the fringes of the England side, but the 23-year-old is a regular on the T20 franchise circuit and he actually pulled out of last year’s Big Bash due to bubble fatigue, admitting it was “the best thing to do.”

Banton has also decided against entering this year’s IPL auction and turned down the opportunity to play in the Pakistan Super League once England’s tour of the Caribbean ends.

“I think people won’t actually understand it till they’ve done it but I remember having to go to IPL in Abu Dhabi and having to isolate for eight days in my hotel room and then I was allowed out,” he said.

“After a time, it just takes its toll. I was like, I want to be able to also live my life and not just be stuck in a hotel. In the end, it was too much for me.

“I pulled out of Big Bash because you had to sit in a hotel room for two weeks.

“That means this whole tour, you’d have still been in your hotel room plus another few days and it’s just crazy to think that people would even do that.

“I think for my mental health, it was the best thing to do.”

Jordan, meanwhile, has been a regular in England’s T20 side and on the franchise circuit throughout the pandemic.

He was involved in the rescheduled IPL before immediately joining up with England for the T20 World Cup.

Following their elimination in the semi-finals, Jordan remained in the UAE to feature in the Abu Dhabi T20 for Northern Warriors.

He then joined Sydney Sixers in the Big Bash as a late notice replacement for Carlos Brathwaite, before jetting off to the Caribbean with England, meaning Jordan has been constantly on the go since mid-September.

Speaking to the Guardian, Jordan described bubble life as “unnatural” and said he had found it to be a challenge.

“When the pandemic first started, I feel like the whole world thought it might last two weeks,” he said.

“Then we had that initial time off, and everyone was itching to get back into cricket, however it looked. If it had to be a bubble, it had to be a bubble.

“No one anticipated that this dynamic would have gone on for so long. That rhythm of playing the game and then doing something to take yourself away from the game, that goes away a bit with bubbles.

“And that’s been the main challenge through all of this, because all of a sudden you’re spending 24 hours with the game, and when it’s not going so well that’s where the real challenge lies, because you start to overthink things.

“I think everyone would say it hasn’t been as enjoyable, because it has been unnatural.”