Cricket South Africa’s chief medical officer Dr. Shuaib Manjra has confirmed that all the cricketers, who returned from the scrapped ODI tour of India, were found to be symptom-free. The Proteas players have undergone tests for COVID-19 and the results have been negative.
The tourists returned from India on March 18 after which the cricketers observed a 14-day self-isolation period. However, the cricket team will be under lockdown just like the rest of the nation. “All the players were symptom-free and those who opted to perform the tests returned negative results,” Manjra was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo.
The ODI opener in Dharamshala was washed out and the remaining two games- in Lucknow and Kolkata on 15th and 18th respectively- were called off amid the coronavirus outbreak.
CSA prioritizes on the fitness of players amid lock-down
Cricket South Africa has put its focus on keeping the players fit. Trainer Tumi Masekela has sent training programs to all the cricketers. “We’ve got time now to work with players in terms of addressing the small niggles that they may have. They have got time to rest and also to do the strength work,” he said.
“But the one big thing is the running volume, the aerobic capacity base, which I am going to try and build up in the next two weeks, so that means lot of running, or a lot of cardio work, cycling or swimming.” he added.
Meanwhile, CSA is set to advertise for the positions of the convener of selectors, national women’s coach and support staff, men’s under-19 coach and support staff, South Africa A coach and chief medical officer. The current contracts will expire at the end of April.