Published 14:54 IST, March 19th 2020
Coronavirus lockdown: England spinner fears end of career with no cricket anytime soon
Coronavirus lockdown: Off-spinner Gareth Batty is currently into the 23rd year of his professional career having signed a 12-month deal with Surrey in October.
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The English county season is under serious threat due to the coronavirus lockdown. The county season will either be postponed or cancelled altogether to ensure the safety of players during the coronavirus lockdown. Former England international and Surrey veteran Gareth Batty fears his playing career might be over in wake of the threat posed by the deadly coronavirus over the upcoming domestic season.
Gareth Batty speaks cricket career following Coronavirus lockdown
The 42-year-old Gareth Batty is currently into the 23rd year of his professional career having signed a 12-month deal with Surrey last October. Following England and Wales Cricket Board's (ECB) decision to suspend all cricket activities, the off-spinner, while speaking to talkSport2, said that he might never play cricket again. He also added that the current situation has left him nowhere and he doesn't know what to do.
He further said that It s a very difficult time for everybody, but for professional sportspeople, the situation is very unique. He said that the athlete's body is his currency, and if he can't do the right things, he feels like he's just missing a trick. In his interview, he also said that most of the time, a player can go out and get fitter or practice more and one's career is in one's own hands. Batty said that at this moment in time, he feels like his career has been taken away.
Gareth Batty England cricket career
Gareth Batty has played 261 first-class matches so far in addition to 271 List A and 171 T20s games as well. He has 1,074 wickets and scored 10,396 runs across formats. Batty also played 9 Tests, 10 ODIs and one T20I between 2002 and 2009.
ECB being back England cricket players from Sri Lanka following coronavirus lockdown
Recently, ECB called back all the England cricket players who were touring Sri Lanka to play in the Test series due to the coronavirus lockdown. The decision was announced while the England cricket team was playing the second day of their final warm-up fixture in Colombo. Later on, in its statement, ECB said that after discussions with Sri Lanka Cricket due to the global spread of coronavirus, the board made the decision to bring back the England cricket players to the UK due to the coronavirus lockdown. It further said that the physical and mental wellbeing of England cricket players and support teams was of utmost importance.
14:54 IST, March 19th 2020