Dubai: The upcoming England tour of the Australian team in September, alongwith a 51-day window for the IPL 2020, means David Warner may have to stay away from wife Candice and their three daughters to oblige with the quarantine procedures in place in times of cricket in the COVID-19 era. The burly Australian opener, a pivot of Australian batting line-up as well as Sunrisers Hyderabad and a family man to the core, is not amused at the idea.
The father of three has often had family with him on tour and said the prospect of being away from his wife and daughters for longer stretches might mean making some difficult decisions.
“There are times when you go away and miss your family a lot and at the moment with all these biosecurity measures that are in place, we’re going to not be able to have the luxury of our families coming away with us now and it could be for the foreseeable future.”
‘‘Obviously three daughters and my wife, who I owe a lot to, has been a big part of my playing career,” he told reporters. “You’ve always got to look out for your family first and with cricket and these unprecedented times, you’ve got to weigh up these decisions. Look, at the moment, I’ll keep continuing to aim for that. Obviously the T20 [World Cup] is not here at home, which would have been ideal to play that and win that here. Now that gets pushed back. I will have to have a rethink about that when it comes to India.’’
Looking at the longer term, he said family would be his first consideration. “I’ll see where I am and where the girls are at with school as well,” Warner said.
“A lot of that is a big part of my decision. It’s not just when the games are being played and how much cricket is being played. It’s a big family decision for myself.”
A spike in COVID-19 infections in Melbourne has seen residents return to lockdown for the past three weeks, and Warner said the Australian team might have to contemplate not playing the traditional Boxing Day Test in the southern city.
“Yeah, we have to look at it like that,” he said. “It’s going to be challenging for everyone.”
