Life inside a Covid-19 bio-bubble for South African Players: Intense Practice and Netflix

The Netflix marathon isn't the reason why van der Dussen and his teammates are confined to this biosecure scene at a hotel in Abu Dhabi.

But waiting being sane among their practice and preparation is the core to their performance.

"What are we watching?" Rassie van der Dussen asks his spouse, Lara.

"No, not too much at the moment," is the answer. “We’re in between series, so you’ve caught me at a difficult time,” adds Lara.

It is quite a tough situation, given that the pair has little to fill their downtime inside South Africa's T20 bubble.

"I'm sure in the next few days, I'll put some time to think about it," says van der Dussen, who is expected to be the top run-scorer of South Africa in the UAE. “It’ll be a Netflix series where we tend to fall asleep in front of movies.”

“We are very well taken care of,” says van der Dussen, both on behalf of himself and Lara, a teacher who has been permitted to access the bubble and teaches her lessons virtually.

We spend plenty of time in the room, but we have a large TV and a beautiful living space.

“You’ve got to keep active, obviously. I’ve got lots of fitness toys to play with and there are facilities in the hotel.”

The gym area on the ground floor of the hotel doubles as a steam room and medical area.

Other squad members, spinner Keshav Maharaj, said in an interview with Betway, the temporary setup as ‘not ideal’ but are also operating to make the most helpful of this unusual preparation.

"It is what it is," he says. "There are many differences, so I try hard to make myself seem just like a live-in-home.

"I'm a very neat person. I love cleanliness. There's nothing worse than a dirty room and crumpled sheets. It really drives me crazy.

“With no cleaners coming into the rooms I spend time making myself more comfortable by keeping my room in check.”

But even a completely isolated existence is not healthy.

The team has an enclosed dining area in the hotel room in which they drink coffee, eat, and watch games together.

On 2nd Saturday 2021 October, they assembled to watch South Africa beat New Zealand 31–29 in The Rugby Championship. “Watching other South African teams connect us at home,” says Maharaj.

One looks at almost the team's gathering is sufficient to understand that this squad has been able to replicate the success of the Springboks.

Van der Dussen and Maharaj are both seasoned cricketers, while Reeza Hendrix and Dwayne Pretorius have made excellent strides in the last 12 months, then Quinton de Kock, Kagiso Rabada, and others from the IPL will join the team.

Mark Boucher manages the operation as head coach, while other former Proteas JP Duminy and Charl Langevelt are on the coaching crew.

Employees are still almost new to the job, but performance and results in 2021 suggest that South Africa's trajectory may be on an upward trajectory.

Achievements in both the T20 and Test series in the Caribbean were ensured by T20 whitewashes of Sri Lanka and Ireland in July and September, recommending that the team is taking advantage of approaching the main tournament with an extra 12 months of growth behind them.

“We had a good year,” says van der Dussen. "We've been in different situations, and we've modified really well.

“A year ago, we were certainly less experienced. We’re in a good place now.”

The captaincy has also shifted hands in the last 12 months.

Temba Bavuma took over the permanent role as South Africa's T20 captain in March, having overseen positive results.

He says that “It came as a surprise to me,”.

I think there was a lot of initial anxiety and fear about how I can take the team to new heights, but I have really enjoyed it.

“I’m lucky that I’ve played with lots of the guys from school level, so the understanding is there and the respect is there. I feel that they are behind me.”

Bavuma broke into South Africa's setup when Proteas legends AB de Villiers, Hashim Amla, and Morne Morkel were yet at the fore.

It is a big part of his job to pass on his experience of playing with those legends of the game to the rest of the team.

He says that “I draw a lot of inspiration from Amla, particularly,”.

“He is similar to me as a player, too, in the sense that he wasn’t considered a classic T20 player but remodeled his game.”

Playing with them and watching them prepare has provided me with a great experience to make it to the rest of the team.

“I might prepare like Amla, for example, but someone like David Miller, who comes in at the back end of the innings, may prepare like De Villiers.”

But mental preparation is seen as just as essential as physical preparation for van der Dussen, who is desperate not to get burnout before busying several weeks of cricket.

“You put in all the hours that you need to,” he says, “and then on game night it’s pretty intense”.

“I get my practice done and then mentally switch off so that next time I’m on the field my mind is 100 percent ready to go.”

(Brand Desk Content)