Phil Salt: "There was a security guard on the floor to make sure nobody made a run for it"
Strict quarantine rules for international arrivals have not gone down well among certain high-profile tennis professionals ahead of the sport's Australian Open next month. Overseas cricketers taking part in the country’s Big Bash League, however, endured the mandatory 14-day quarantine period without a murmur of complaint, and certainly no lists of demands.
Sussex’s Phil Salt was one of 12 English players locked away in a government-sanctioned hotel before they were able to get on with the cricket, but he remained sanguine about the whole experience.
“We we’re supposed to fly into Adelaide, and the day before we were going to fly, we got told there had been a change of plans due to an outbreak in Adelaide. We had to fly into Perth,” the 24-year-old recalls.
“Cricket Australia were going to take care of us because they knew where we were staying when we were in Adelaide, but we were chucked into the next government quarantine hotel in Perth, which was a bit different.
“It took a few days to get all the exercise equipment chucked into the rooms, but it was pretty good to be honest. I can’t complain about anything really. Obviously, anyone who comes into Australia has to do the 14 days, but it was just about as bearable as it could have been.”
Phil Salt discusses the impact of the pandemic on his time in Australia
Being cooped up inside a room all day is far from ideal preparation for a high-profile, fast-paced T20 tournament, but there was no choice.
“We were locked in our rooms. There was a security guard on the floor to make sure nobody made a run for it, which I thought about but didn’t do! You get your food dropped off three times a day. You can order Uber Eats in, so I did a fair bit of that.”
The exercise equipment delivered to his room was vital for maintaining something resembling the fitness required for elite sport.
“We had plenty of weights to be fair, a treadmill and a spin bike, so just used to get on them and do a couple of sessions a day.
“I had pretty clear direction. The Sussex staff and the Strikers staff had various ideas for the circuits I was doing and how to load the important parts of the body to prevent injury when I did get back outside. Mainly a lot of hammy work, that was number one. Doing a lot of high-speed running exercises on the treadmill to protect my hamstrings.
“I think it worked pretty well. So far, so good; touch wood.”
There is, as all of us know from lockdowns back home, only so much exercise you can do in a day, even for professional athletes. So how did Phil pass the rest of his time in isolation?
“Lots of talking to people back at home. Obviously the time difference doesn’t help, so I spent a lot of time on FaceTime to Briggsy [Danny Briggs, former Sussex spinner and another of Adelaide Strikers’ overseas players]. He’d have FIFA on his PlayStation and I’d have it on mine.
“I looked at some of my cricket stuff, had a look at that but didn’t want to get too stuck into that because I couldn’t do anything about it. We couldn’t get out and train at certain times of the day like the international teams could."
His hotel didn’t have the TV channels needed to watch the Premier League, but Phil was still able to keep tabs on his beloved Manchester City.
“I’d go to sleep listening to the football on TalkSport and then it would wake me up at about 5 or 6 in the morning and I’d have to turn it off again and go back to sleep. That was how I spent my weekends!”
There was also an opportunity for some intellectual self-improvement.
“I did a bit with my Spanish tutor. I’ve got an online tutor who I do a couple of hours a week with. Learning the vocab has been the most challenging bit. I did Spanish at school, so I’ve got a basic understanding. I don’t struggle too much with the tenses, so it’s more about broadening my vocabulary.”
Despite dealing with his confinement in typically positive fashion, it is clear to Phil how lengthy quarantines could have a detrimental effect on players’ psychological wellbeing.
“Ben Dunk has done something like 12 or 14 weeks in hotel quarantine so two weeks isn’t really that much compared to what he’s had to go through, especially with him having kids and a family back home. So, I can imagine it being very frustrating spending that amount of time in there.
“I can see how mental health problems would surface in that environment. It’s all about keeping yourself positive I reckon and making sure that you’re communicating with people and if you do feel anything, speak up.”
Great to see our UK lads, @PhilSalt1 & @DannyBriggs19, straight out of quarantine and into the nets in Hobart today🏴🏴 #BlueEnergy #BBL10 pic.twitter.com/zBBgCZVqG3
— Adelaide Strikers (@StrikersBBL) December 8, 2020
Once their two weeks were up, Phil and his fellow detainees were allowed to enter Australian society. The differences between the everyday situation there and in the UK had actually first become apparent on his way from the airport to the hotel two weeks earlier.
“What was a bit strange was when we got to Perth, having been in the UK for so long where we’re used to everybody roaming about the place in masks, the social distancing and all the rest of it, they’ve managed it so well over here that that isn’t really a necessity.
“The hotel that we were dropped off at was opposite a row of nightclubs and bars, and it was absolutely heaving.”
With cricket matches to play, however, there was no time to sample Western Australia’s nightlife after being released from quarantine and it was straight on a plane to Adelaide to join up with the Strikers squad and get the Big Bash started.
Despite the relative normality of Australian life in comparison to the UK, there are still plenty of reminders of an ongoing pandemic when it came to playing matches themselves.
“There are fairly strict protocols [on a matchday]. You can’t mix with anyone from outside the hub, you’ve got to have a face mask on when you’re in a car and driving to and from the ground and that sort of thing.”
The tournament being played in regional hubs this year has also had an effect on certain matches.
“You’ve had a couple of games like the Strikers vs the Sixers in Hobart where, because Hobart aren’t playing, you don’t get heaps of numbers into the ground, so we’ve had a few quiet crowds due to everything that’s going on. But when we’ve had the opportunity to play teams at their home grounds, it’s been pretty good. It’s been electric at the Adelaide Oval and when we played the Brisbane Heat at the Gabba. There have been some great crowds providing the home team is playing.”
A potentially difficult time might have come during the festive period when being stuck in a hub, thousands of miles from home and without any family could have hit hard, but Phil says he and the other players in a similar situation were well looked after.
“SACA [the South Australian Cricket Association, the body that manages the Strikers] took care of us really well. They put on a dinner for all the guys that weren’t leaving the hub to travel home. The Western Australians couldn’t go home either, because it would have been a 14-day quarantine. Different states stopped travel and put up what they call hard borders, so there were a few guys who were stuck in Adelaide, which was pretty unfortunate for them, but the SACA took care of us very well and put on a great day for us at Christmas.”
So given the sunshine, cricket in front of crowds and relative freedoms he’s enjoying, how does Phil feel about coming home?
“I’m not in a huge hurry to come back and I am looking forward to the rest of my winter wherever that may take me.”
But, ultimately, home is where the heart is.
“Obviously, I am looking forward to playing for Sussex at the start of the season.”
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