Arthur Crabtree wrote:I suppose the vast majority of people are locked down with their families, whereas these players are locked out from their families. I think Morgan could think again how his complaints look to the general public (especially regarding the IPL), but it doesn't feel like he is doing anything other than giving a sincere account of how his experience felt.
No player in Morgan's squad went into a biobubble until 16th of July. They spent 18 days inside for the ODI series v Ireland. After they all left the biobubble, we know this because (a) The squad for the rest of the limited overs summer wasnt announced until 18th August (b) no player who was in the test bubble was included for the Pakistan games on purpose (c) the players involved in the Ireland and Pakistan games were playing games for counties between 4th and 18th August.
Given they were playing for counties inside the 2 week quarantine, its safe to say it no longer applied. County cricket was not played in a bubble, and we can see from Archer/Roots isolation from the squad they came back after only 7 days. The squad therefore either went back into the bubble on the 18th at the earliest, or more likely 7 days before on the 21st; its impossible to know which, but looking at the ECBs actions with players rejoining the bubbles, 7 days seems to be the mark.
Interestingly, for anyone in Morgans position playing in IPL, he would have had to serve a mandatory quarantine period in order to play. But the IPL agreed to forgo this for anyone playing in the England v PAK/AUS series that overlapped. This quarantine would have started after the first T20I v Pakistan.
So all in all Morgan is complaining that:
He had to isolate for 18 days for the Ireland series
He had to isolate for 9 extra days for the rest of the summer
On the flipside, he had 5 and a half months gap between ending his last international and joining that squad. Time that he spent with his family no doubt at home, considering it was the only legal alternative.
After staying at home being paid vast sums to do nothing, I am not sure its that outrageous terms of employment to expect people to have a little over a week away from their family, or a couple of weeks. He'd have probably been happy to get away from them after 5 months stuck inside with them, I know I would have been. After 4 months of watching Frozen I was considering paying someone to kidnap mine.
He'd almost certainly have spent more time at home with his family to the end of the season than any key worker. Of course, the key worker gets 8 quid an hour and risks their life.... he gets 2 million a year to play in a biobubble where everyone who gets near him is tested 14 times an hour.
how much would a player play a back to back test in normal times at home get to see their family? ten days of play, 2 days before and in-between to prepare. Its more than one of his biobubbles, and about the same as the other. Its hardly outrageous.