With most countries going into lockdown, closing borders and issuing travel restrictions to contain the spread of COVID-19 pandemic, cricket has come to a grinding halt.
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Apart from cricket, the deadly virus has also impacted Australian players’ marriage. April has been considered as wedding season for the Aussie cricketers for years now but considering the current situation, best-laid plans are put off indefinitely.
As per a report published in ESPNcricinfo, no less than eight Cricket Australia or state contracted players have chosen to delay their nuptials due to strict restrictions on public gatherings.
Adam Zampa, Jackson Bird, Mitchell Swepson, Andrew Tye, D'Arcy Short, Katelyn Fryett, Alister McDermott and women’s cricketer Jess Jonassen are among the group. All had their weddings scheduled in the month of April but now the postponement is the only option.
Having recently become engaged, Glenn Maxwell and Pat Cummins are not quite in the same company but their weddings are also to take place in the future.
"First of all it means that I'll have to be more involved with the plans because I am around more, which is good," Cummins quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo. "No we're lucky. Obviously just got engaged, so hopefully most of this would have blown over by the time our wedding comes around.
"I really feel for a couple of close mates here like Adam Zampa who had to delay their weddings. It's really tough times. So nothing's hopefully changed too much from our point of view with that. Obviously bigger things at play."
Cummins' fiancee Becky Boston is from England and he understands the pain of European countries badly hit by the Coronavirus.
"It's awful seeing things like - Italy and Spain, but now America and the UK in recent days - it's just crazy how quickly it's developed," Cummins said. "Obviously got a lot of family over in England at the moment, speaking to them regularly - first of all making sure they're staying indoors. But they're all- it just seems like what we're doing here but on an even more intense scale.
"They're really staying at home, trying to do all the right things. It's obviously moving so quickly, so I think we're scheduled to go over there in June I think it is. It's still 3 months away, just have to wait and see. I know no call has been made on that either way, but I guess unless things improve, I can't really see many tournaments going on anywhere in the world for a little while.
"So just sit back and wait. Obviously wish everyone in England the best, especially from a cricketer's point of view, speaking to a few close mates who play county cricket over there - they've gone through the whole pre-season and geared up for the start of their summer and they're staring down the barrel of potentially their whole summer of cricket being over. So obviously the health risk is a big one, but those guys basically have to put their careers on hold."
