Cricket Australia will closely monitor the mental health of players living inside a bio-secure bubble during the upcoming limited-overs tour of England, captain Aaron Finch said on Tuesday.
The team departs Sunday for a tour originally scheduled to take place in July but postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic.
In order to play their first internationals in almost six months, the Australians have agreed to strict biosecurity plans which include playing at venues with on-site accommodation.
The arrangements raise the prospect of long periods isolated in hotel rooms, and Finch said Cricket Australia wanted to ensure the players’ mental wellbeing.
“That’s going to be something that’s going to be a real issue, it’s going to be something to monitor heavily,” he told reporters in an online conference.
“I know from an Australian point of view that there’s a lot of work going on behind the scenes to make sure there’s checkpoints in place to ensure we understand and recognise when things might be a little bit off.”
Finch said a sports psychologist was travelling with the team and had spoken to all players to help them develop individual plans to cope.
With some players travelling straight from England to the Indian Premier League in the United Arab Emirates after the tour, Finch said cricketers had to adapt to the bio-bubble environment.
“It could be a few months that you’re in these bio-bubbles and being stuck in these hotel rooms for weeks or months on end can be really tough,” he said.