It can feel like a prison' - some players struggle with restrictive CPL bubble conditions

Written by Kwesi Mugisa. Posted in CPL. | 21 August 2020 | 4105 Views
Tags: Cricket, Cpl, Cplt20, Kesrick Williams, Rahkeem Cornwall, West Indies, Windies

The restrictive conditions of the biosecure Caribbean Premier League (CPL) has proven a difficult adjustment for some players, despite a general acceptance of the necessity of the measures.

After a three-month hiatus, cricket returned to the international stage earlier this month with the England versus the West Indies series, in England. As the world continues its battle to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus, the series took place under extraordinary circumstances.

The Test series was played without fans and the players, along with everyone involved in it, were kept separate from the public, in a biosphere of sorts. With considerably fewer resources than the England Cricket Board (ECB), the CPL has come up with its own version of a bubble in order to stage the tournament, but there are marked differences.

“The one in England was much different. You could move around freely. You could socialise a bit more with your teammates in England, but the one in Trinidad you cannot do that,” St Lucia Zouks off-spinner Rahkeem Cornwall told the Mason and Guest radio program.

“When you first come to Trinidad you in the room for 7 days, isolated, and can’t come out. Whereas as in England once you do the test and you are negative you are free to move about the facilities, you just can’t leave,” he added.

His St Lucia Zouks teammate, pace bowler Kesrick Williams, also shed more light on the specific conditions.

“It’s not the norm but at the end of the day it’s something we work with given the conditions in the world right now, with COVID-19…it’s not the best but we are working with it,” he added.

“When somebody is always telling you, you can’t do something, it's different than when you can freely do it. For me, I’m usually in my room, but at the end of the day when someone is telling you, you have to wear a mask there, you have to wear a mask here, times for the food, times for gym and stuff like that and then the sanitizing and all that, it just leaves you feeling like you are in prison. I don’t have a problem with it, but it's something we are not accustomed to.”