This week, Downtime Diaries, our series where cricketers let us look into their lives and routines in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, features Ravi Bopara
I was at the PSL with Multan Sultans when everything kicked off. There was a bit of chat going on for a while. Nobody really knew what they wanted to do, but a lot of the English lads had decided that they were going to come home, and they ended up leaving a week before I did.
I had a chat with Mo [Moeen Ali] and we were looking to stay, because we wanted to play and wanted to get the tournament finished before we did anything else. But then things started getting worse. In the back of my mind I was thinking, "You know what, there's more to this. It's changing every day. I bet it becomes something serious."
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And then the day we were going to play our semi-final was the day they just said that was it. We even had our team meeting, planning for our opposition and everything. But literally five minutes after that meeting, we got called back in and they said: "Right, everyone's going home."
All that now seems so distant.
I'm all right, but a little bit bored. I've been squeezing in a bit of training here and there. We've done a few Zoom fitness things, and then in the time you get to go out to do your exercise [under the UK's current lockdown, the public are permitted an hour's outdoor exercise a day], I've been using that time to do my sprints. I've even been bowling at a brick wall to keep it ticking over. I tried to have a net at home with my little one a few weeks ago, but the ball went through the wall! That happens
Turns out working from home isn't the best idea for cricketers pic.twitter.com/uBcVUiWJ34
— Ravi Bopara (@ravibopara) March 21, 2020
This period allows me to spend some time with him - it's been good bonding time. He's eight, turning nine in a few days. I probably need to start thinking about what present I'm going to get him. If I'm being honest, I'd forgotten about it. I was going to start looking this morning, but who's going to deliver it? I'll order something, and if it doesn't come, I'll blame it on the delivery guy.
Talking about deliveries, my mum was steadfast about keeping our chicken shop [Sam's Chicken in Tooting] open for delivery. The shop is next to quite a big hospital, St George's, so we need to stay open to make sure the hospital staff have food coming in for them. Initially we were planning to shut, but then my mum was like: "Well, who's going to feed the staff?" Nobody else is open round there. The nurses and everyone else there love the chicken, so we decided we'd do it.
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It's probably been about seven years that I've owned the shop. When I was young, I spent most of my lunchtimes and dinner times in chicken shops, and I said to myself: one day, I'm going to get a chicken shop and then I won't have to pay for it. That was the plan, and that's why I ended up having one. And now we can help serve those on the front line helping us fight the pandemic.
Personally this lockdown has come at an odd time for me [Bopara signed a contract with Sussex at the end of the 2019 season following 18 years at Essex]. I went for one training session before I left for Pakistan, but there were only eight or nine of the lads there, and I haven't had the chance to meet up with Dizzy [Sussex head coach Jason Gillespie].
It's strange sitting here in April, not being able to do anything. The emotional roller coaster of the English county season would have already started by April normally, so some cricketers might be struggling a little bit with nothing really going on. But it's happening now - we've got to get on with life.
For more such Downtime Diaries with players from across the world, click here.