COVID-19 outbreak has brought sporting events to a standstill, with cricket on hiatus due to the global health emergency, which has claimed over 37,800 lives across the world.
Attempting to stay fit amid the shutdown, Australia Test captain Tim Paine relocated his car onto the street and transformed his garage into a gym at his home in Hobart, where the wicketkeeper was recently robbed.
“I woke up this morning to a message from NAB saying I had some interesting movements on my account,” Paine told reporters on Tuesday.
“I went out and the [car] door was open and my wallet and a few other things had gone.
“Actually looking at my account, the boys went straight to Maccas [McDonalds] – the boys must have been hungry.”
“Since that went on radio, I’ve had a message from [sponsor] Kookaburra and they’re going to send me some balls on a string that I can hook up in the garage and start training,” added Paine.
While happy at home, Paine said: “Steve Smith, David Warner – guys like that, they’re high energy, they love to train so this would be a real eye-opener for them.
“I think [Smith] is doing a 10km run every day so hopefully he doesn’t come back as a skeleton. But him and Marnus [Labuschagne] and Davey are probably the three I worry about.
“They don’t like sitting still, and Steve and Marnus don’t like not batting for too long. And Davey – he literally can’t sit still.
“Davey has got a home gym so he will be in there literally 24/7 and Steve and Marnus would have some kind of contraption where they’re hitting balls, or they’ve got their wives are feeding them balls because there’s no way those two are going a week without batting,” Paine further added.
Cricket Australia (CA) has suspended all domestic and international matches due to the outbreak of the novel coronavirus pandemic.
The final round of Australia’s premier domestic first-class tournament, Sheffield Shield was also cancelled earlier this month due to Covid-19. This was the first time the tournament has seen a stoppage since the second World War.
