Living in bio-bubbles has had negative impact on players' mental health, says Tom Harrison

London [UK], August 12 : Tom Harrison, the Chief Executive of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) on Thursday said that constantly living in bio-bubbles has had a negative impact on the mental well-being of players, and now it is important to ensure the well being of everyone involved with the sport.
Before the start of the ongoing Test series between India and England, Three Lions' all-rounder Ben Stokes took a break to focus on his mental well-being and after that, questions were raised whether the bubble life will be sustainable in the long run or not.
"What we are learning from this experience of COVID-19 is the absolute significance of mental well-being along with physical well-being and these two are related to each other. If we are asking senior players to be at their very best when they put on an England shirt or an Indian shirt, we better be providing them an environment to flourish and that is looking after their well-being, ensuring they get a good time of rest and the access to their families," said Harrison while replying to an ANI query during a virtual press conference on Thursday.
"We are starting to understand the impact of bubble life, but it is unquestionable that it has had a negative impact on the mental well-being of players and support staff. From our point of view, we are starting to understand that in order to fulfill our complex FTP, we need to have deeper squads. We cannot prioritise everything, it is unrealistic to do that. And it is unrealistic to expect players to take the field every single time. England plays more than any team, we take this responsibility very seriously, the key point is to put people first and monitor mental health in the way the game has not done in the past," he added.
Right now, it is not known whether England players will be allowed to take their families Down Under for the Ashes. Both ECB and Cricket Australia are in discussions regarding this point, but clarity is still awaited.
While replying to ANI on a query regarding the Ashes, Harrison said: "At the moment, we are having the right discussions with senior members of Cricket Australia, my latest conversation was yesterday. They have got all the right connections with senior government officials in Australia to enable us to state our case here and that is what we are doing. We are doing our best to ensure the message is delivered regarding our reasonable requests. I genuinely believe we will get to a satisfying solution to these discussions, I know they are very difficult and they are politically charged in Australia."
When asked whether England, Australia, and India should get more revenue from the ICC, Harrison said: "ICC needs to represent its membership as a global governing body. There are some realities that face the world, certainly around India's influence and economic strength in the game of cricket which is unlike any other major sport. That is a fundamental reality, the ICC's responsibility is towards all its members, it is important we get that right and we are able to continue to grow cricket. I do believe ICC has a responsibility towards all its members."
The second Test between England and India will be live from 3.30 pm IST on SONY SIX (English) channels from Thursday.