Colombo: Sri Lanka coach Mickey Arthur said that the team may need abour four to five days to build back the momentum they had before the coronavirus pandemic forced a freeze on cricket activities. Arthur had taken charge of the team in December 2019 and his first assignment was the team’s tour of Pakistan earlier in the year.
It might take a little camp of four to five days away as a unit just to get back the camaraderie and the spirit we had built. The key is for players to enjoy the environment, to feel they are valued and that they can trust the system. Those are things you work damn hard for as a coach, Arthur told ESPNCricinfo.
England’s two-match Test series in Sri Lanka was one of many international series that have been indefinitely postponed due to the pandemic. The England Test team left Sri Lanka days before the series was to start.
I remember when we flew back from Zimbabwe in January, our physio was handing out masks as we were going through Dubai airport. I actually didn’t put one on. I saw probably 60% of people in the airport with masks, but thought nothing was going to happen, he said.
Then we got into the West Indies tour [at home] and bubbling away in the background was this chatter always about coronavirus.
Then England arrived and I was actually at the ground and we were watching the practice match when I got the call from the CEO to head to Sri Lanka Cricket’s headquarters. They said the tour is off. You sit back and think, Wow, what now?’ he revealed.
Arthur felt that there are financial struggles ahead for not just the cricket world, but for everything.
I just see how badly the cricket world has been disrupted, but that’s just a microcosm of what’s happening in the real world. People are losing their lives, governments are at loggerheads. It’s almost surreal. The cricketing world is going to struggle financially. The world as we know is going to change,’ he said.