"We identified in South Africa that a number of our players were physically and mentally exhausted"
Thursday 26 March 2020 08:08, UK
Australia coach Justin Langer says the break his players have been given by the coronavirus pandemic has been "like nirvana".
Australia's white-ball series against New Zealand were postponed because of the outbreak and tight travel restrictions.
A number of Langer's players are also due to play in the IPL but that tournament will not begin until mid-April at the earliest.
"The truth for me personally, and for a lot of the players, is this is like nirvana in the fact we're home with our families," Langer told reporters.
"We're sleeping in our own bed, we eat home-cooked dinners, and we can still work - in one degree or another - from home.
"We identified in South Africa [over the winter] that a number of our players were physically and mentally exhausted.
"We had all winter with the World Cup and the Ashes and then into our summer. The boys were playing before that as well so some of them came from the Indian Premier League and straight into the World Cup.
"It gives them a really good opportunity to recharge and we're obviously looking at scenarios moving forward to make sure we're ready for whatever comes up.
"We know that we can't sit on our hands, we don't know how long this is going to last for and we will have to be ready and organised."
Langer is aware of the toll the pandemic is taking on people, with three of his daughters losing work.
The Australia coach also spoke about the chance of his team's white-ball games in England in July taking place.
"I have great empathy for so many people who are going through this tough time," he said.
"We're seeing my daughters lose their jobs, we've seen no sport on TV, what's happening in the corporate world, it's a really tough time."
On the scheduled three ODIs and as many T20Is against England, Langer added: "We'll all have to work together because it's so important for the industry that we do work together.
"Having said that, it is such a complex process. If we can make it work to help English cricket, then that's going to be very important. No doubt about that."
