SL VS ENG | Our minds were with the people back home, reveals Joe Root

SL VS ENG | Our minds were with the people back home, reveals Joe Root

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England Test captain Joe Root has backed the decision to abandon the Test tour of Sri Lanka over the coronavirus pandemic, saying the players’ minds were with the people back home. The two-match Test series which was due to begin in Galle on March 19 and a warm-up fixture was abandoned on Friday.

The England team headed home after a bizarre few months. In South Africa, the squad was hindered by a virulent bug at the start of the tour but in the end, they prevailed. But there was no way this virus could be defeated. The two-Test series which was due to begin in Galle on March 19 and a warm-up fixture was abandoned due to Coronavirus on Friday when the decision was made to return to the UK. 

Joe Root, the England captain has said that his team's overwhelming reaction was one of "relief" after their two-Test tour of Sri Lanka was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The tour's postponement was confirmed with England midway through the second day of their final warm-up match in Colombo, ahead of the first Test that was due to get underway next week. Prior to the departure, the skipper has said that the team's concerns for their friends and families back home had made it nigh on impossible to focus fully on the task of preparing for a Test series.

"There was an element of relief, the right decision has been made. You could see looking at the players that their minds were elsewhere thinking about people back home. Now that we can go and look after families and be with loved ones that's put a lot of guys at ease. Naturally there was a lot of talk in the dressing room and it got to a stage where it overshadowed the cricket,” said Root as quoted by Cricinfo.

The postponement was reluctantly agreed to by Sri Lanka Cricket, who stand to make a significant financial loss, but with 3000 England fans expected in Galle for the first Test, the likelihood of a spike in Sri Lanka's recorded cases of COVID-19 was high. And with that in mind, the England team had been briefed on the quarantine arrangements, should any players or staff have contracted the virus while on tour. They would have had to be removed from the team environment and placed under the jurisdiction of the Sri Lanka government, a prospect that Root said had alarmed the squad.

"It was clear it was getting in the way of performance and affecting the mental well-being of the guys. There were a number of different scenarios we could have found ourselves in that were pretty scary, to be honest. If one of the lads was to get it in these conditions, or a member of the public travelling, it could be quite a scary experience.

"It would be very strange if that was to happen but if these things have to happen so be it. We always get supported extremely well and that has played a big part in our results in recent years. They have a big impact on the way we play our cricket, we like to interact. We don't know when we'll play again. I'm sure over the coming weeks we'll prepare and do everything we can to be as ready as possible but until we know more it's just a case of common sense. Look after yourself, condition well and be ready to start,” he added.

England's next scheduled international series is a three-Test home campaign against West Indies, with the first Test slated to begin at The Oval on June 4. But, with the UK government stating that they expect the peak of the virus to come in 10-14 weeks, right at the height of the tour, there is an increasing expectation that that tour will also fall victim to the pandemic. The ECB, on Thursday, outlined contingency plans to mitigate the financial, logistical and scheduling implications for the English season.

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