The Australian summer schedule is yet to be announced due to COVID-19 pandemic.
Australian players may go 173 consecutive days without seeing their families during a “COVID normal” home summer and head coach Justin Langer said it would one of the most difficult things for the team.
These days players and other staff have to stay away from their families within bio-secure bubbles before and after the matches and then have a complete mandatory quarantine period before meeting their family due to the Coronavirus outbreak.
Last week, the majority of the Australian squad returned home from England, where the team spent the entire tour in bio-secure conditions and is currently undergoing two weeks of isolation in Adelaide.
After isolating in Adelaide, many will also have to spend another two weeks in isolation when they return to their home states – which is going to cause the greatest frustration for the families.
Read Also: Justin Langer hints Australia unlikely to spring up surprises for India Tests
However, the head coach insisted that if any player would ask for a break from the bio-secure bubble, his wish would be respected by the team management during the home summer.
Langer told reporters in a conference call on Monday: “When we sat down with all the players and showed them how the summer was going to look, certainly the blood drained from a lot of their faces. It’s going to be a long time away from our families and from home.”
He further added, “We are very respectful of the current climate with guys being away from home and living this hub life. If someone was to come up and say, ‘I need a break out’ they would have 100% supports from the Australian cricket team.”
On planning for the team selection, the Aussie added: “We are also very mindful though that we want all our cricketers playing as much cricket as possible. So, working out the exact number [for the squad], won't necessarily be a science. There'll be an art to it. So that we get the balance between guys playing and guys being ready in case there's some infections or anything like that.”
Langer has also revealed that Australia has almost confirmed the schedule, but they dealing with multiple levels of government and other interested parties while bringing players in and out of the bubbles due to which the board is taking time to finalize.
He signed off by saying, “There are so many complexities and stakeholders. We are really keen to get it locked in, I’m sure it will happen soon.”
(With Reuters Inputs)