The England cricket team players are going to avoid shaking hands with each other and instead, use the “well-established fist bump” on their upcoming tour to Sri Lanka, captain Joe Root revealed on Tuesday.
The England squad was hit hard by a series of gastroenteritis and flu problems during their recent tour to South Africa with 10 players and 4 support staff members getting hit by a mystery virus before and during the 1st Test in December last year.
The team though, recovered quickly from the illnesses in the camp and went on to win the four-match series after losing the first game by 107 runs at Centurion.
Once bitten twice shy and with the growing coronavirus outbreak around the world, the players are not going to take any chances on their next tour which is why they have decided to limit their physical contact with each other in Sri Lanka.
“After the illnesses that swept through the squad in South Africa, we are well aware of the importance of keeping contact to a minimum and we’ve been given some really sound and sensible advice from our medical team to help prevent spreading germs and bacteria,” Root said.
“We are not shaking hands with each other, using instead the well-established fist bump, and we are washing hands regularly and wiping down surfaces using the anti-bacterial wipes and gels we’ve been given in our immunity packs.
“There is no suggestion that the tour will be affected, but of course it is an evolving situation so we are in regular contact with the authorities and will proceed as advised, but at this stage we fully expect the tour to continue as planned,” the skipper added.
England will play the first of two practice games against a Sri Lanka Board Presidents XI in Katunayake on Saturday ahead of the 2 Tests in Galle and Colombo starting March 19.
A number of sporting events have already been postponed because of the coronavirus, which originated in China.
More than 3,000 people have lost their lives across the globe due to the deadly disease while the number of confirmed cases has crossed 80,000-mark.
In India, at least three cases of coronavirus were reported on Monday.
