Looking ahead to 2021

 Posted by Tony Hutton

With the England cricketers on their way home from South Africa today the players will no doubt be pleased to be back, only to find themselves mired in yet another sporting controversy regarding the cancellation of the the tour and the circumstances surrounding it. The South African board have already mounted a strong defence, saying in effect that it was not their fault.

One can only sympathise with all concerned to have found themselves in this unprecedented situation. The South African authorities, already struggling on several fronts, face losing a large amount of television money which could be crucial to their very existence in future. The England players are reported as being under stress and to have mental problems due to the ongoing bubble life style, which some of them have undergone for most of this year.

How things have changed from the brave new world when I was last in Cape Town, some twenty five years ago. Here are a couple of pictures from Newlands in that much happier time.

Playing the blame game does not really get us anywhere, the bubble has well and truly burst for now and life must go on. Some of the England players have already cancelled their plans to play in the Australian Big Bash T20 competition, which has just started, and all of them must quickly sort themselves out before setting off for Sri Lanka very early in the new year. Two Test matches are scheduled, both in Galle on the southern tip of the island, and that is where their next bubble existence will start.

After that the caravan moves on to India for what looks a really tiring itinerary of four Test matches between 5th February and early March, followed by five T20s and three one day internationals. India is now not such a daunting experience as it once was, but even so this does look rather intimidating given that the Covid restrictions are likely still to be in force. One can only really think that the squad will need to be expanded with new faces coming in to ease the workload of the existing squad.

Enough of the international scene, as one small step for man happened this week with the news that the county championship fixtures for 2021 will be announced before Christmas, although followers of T20 and the 50 over competition will have to wait until the New Year. So then at least we can dream of returning to watch proper cricket as spectators, provided that social distancing can be enforced. This must surely be possible on all county cricket grounds. Let us hope so.