Three bio-bubbles down, three to go. Quinton de Kock didn't sound enamoured at the prospect of spending a fair chunk of the next four months holed up in a hotel hiding from Covid-19. He knows the drill only too well, having been in one kind of restrictive environment or another since the first week of September.
BUBBLE FATIGUE
De Kock trying hard not to think outside the bubble
De Kock called bio-bubbles "unsettling" and the "hardest challenge" on their upcoming trip to Pakistan © Getty
De Kock played in the IPL in the United Arab Emirates before coming home for the white-ball series against England and the Tests against Sri Lanka. Each of those engagements required the players to observe bubble protocols - as will South Africa's upcoming series in Pakistan and at home against Australia and Pakistan in a season that will stretch into April.
"There is a lot of nerves that goes around when it comes to the bubble," De Kock said on Tuesday. "Lots of small things get into your mind; things that you're not used to in life. One day we could living kind of normally and the next you're in lockdown. Where do we go from there? We're stuck in a bubble, and we could be stuck in a lockdown in some place for a certain period of time, which is the worst case scenario.
"But, as a normal person, that's the way you think about things. Bubbles just make tours longer because of the quarantine period. You stay in your room for a certain amount of time. You get out when we are declared safe. It's very unsettling. I don't know how long it can last for. But, for now, you try and deal with it in the best way possible."
De Kock, South Africa's all-format captain, led his team to
