Botham warns about COVID-19 impact in sports

Bengaluru, November 4: Former England captain Ian Botham has warned about the negative impact the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic will have on the sport as a whole as he felt it was high time since all the stadiums were opened to the spectators in a very safe and controlled manner.

In the post COVID-19 world, most of the sports events across the globe, including the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 in the UAE are being held behind closed doors without entry to fans.

The bio-secure bubble environment under which these events are held have lead to severe apprehensions about the impact it is going to have on the mental health of players.

Many current and ex-cricketers including England's ODI and T20 skipper Eoin Morgan, who leads the Kolkata Knight Riders franchise in IPL 2020 and Pakistan bowling coach Waqar Younis had raised concerns about it.

Morgan even went to the extent of saying that players might pull out of tours in future if they are unable to cope with the mental stress in the bio-bubbles.

Players will pull out if mental health suffers in bio-bubbles: Morgan

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"We need to get these grounds open again to spectators in a controlled and safe manner," said Botham, while delivering his maiden speech in the United Kingdom's House of Lords, via video link.

The 64-year-old, who is England's third-leading wicket-taker of all times in Test matches with 383 scalps, sits as a non-party-political crossbench peer took up his seat in the unelected upper house of UK Parliament last month.

Players, while competing, are being completely isolated from their surroundings in bio-bubbles to negate the risk of COVID-19 infection.

Knocked for six: #England #cricket great Ian Botham warned about the devastating impact of #coronavirus on sport and charities during his maiden speech in the House of Lords @AFP @stGuyer https://t.co/yaiMt4pesi pic.twitter.com/iUtSl1y1i4

— AFP London (@afplondon) November 3, 2020

The England great, who was one of cricket's great all-rounders, said that he had seen the negative impact of COVID-19 in his position as chairman of northeast county side Durham.

"It's no secret that I'm a passionate and strong-willed man who'll fight for the causes close to my heart - be it sport, charity, countryside and the world we're now living," added Botham, who during his playing days was well known for his charity work.

(With inputs from Agencies)