Argentina coach Sian Kelly worried about family back home

Sian Kelly, the head coach of the Argentina national side, has been in Buenos Aires due to Coronavirus lockdown and is worried she won’t be able to return home in case of an emergency. Kelly, a British, is not permitted to go beyond her nearest supermarket in her locality for supplies. About 25% of the world’s population is living in lockdown. Kelly’s case is similar to English cricketers Amy Jones and Lauren Winfield who, are in Australia at the moment.

Aged 20, Kelly moved to Buenos Aires in 2016 initially for a year abroad as part of a Spanish degree but has stayed in the South American nation to help develop women’s cricket in the country. Argentina has been on lockdown since March 20 and recently extended it until April 12 with no outdoor exercise allowed and police permitted to arrest people for breaching quarantine rules.

“My boyfriend went just out of our area to buy some items he couldn’t get at our nearest shop and was stopped by police and nearly arrested,” Kelly was quoted as saying to BBC. She has been staying with him and his family and does not know when she will next be able to return home.

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Kelly’s main worry remains her family in West Midlands and hoped to return home for the English summer which looks bleak at this moment. “If my family started to get ill now I wouldn’t be able to go home - that's difficult to swallow - but at the same time there are people in worse situations than me,” she added. “It’s easier being out here if you know when your next home date is.”

The Coronavirus outbreak has stopped all the sporting activities around the world also leading Kelly to lose all her cricketing work. Argentina were scheduled to play a five-match series against Brazil this month which has been cancelled. In the meantime, Kelly is using her language skills to earn some money teaching people Spanish online, something she is ‘very grateful’ to be able to fall back on, while also keeping an eye on the situation back home.

“Looking at the way England is dealing with it from the outside, it’s frustrating,” Kelly, a former Warwickshire wicket-keeper, said. “You almost want to shout at people saying go home - on social media I saw people still having barbecues together.” Although the lockdown rules in Argentina are very strict, Kelly feels her new country has dealt with the pandemic very well.

In Argentina too there have been ‘thousands of arrests for flouting rules,’ she said. “Lots of people went to the coast for our bank holiday, after lockdown, and they weren’t allowed back into the city. Reports suggest that Argentina has recorded 1,265 positive cases and 37 deaths from the disease. “The government knows the health service here wouldn’t be able to deal with coronavirus on a large scale, so they’ve been strict,” she concluded.