Most of us are largely confined to our homes these days. Cricketers, also stuck at home, have been entertaining us in all sorts of ways: sharing videos of indoor batting, putting, workouts, dancing, interviewing each other, and teaching their pets to be slip fielders. But what did cricketers of the past do when staying indoors?
During a rain delay at the 1977-78 World Series Cricket Supertest between WSC Australians and the World XI at the Royal Agricultural Showground in Sydney, spectators got to peek into the members' hall where there was an impromptu game on with two soft-drink bottles as stumps and a stump used as a bat. Reports suggest the game got raucous enough that a portrait of the Queen took a hit during the proceedings.
Whether it was behind the microphone or at home, Richie Benaud made you feel welcome and glad to be in his company.
Also glad for the company and some TLC from his team-mate is the convalescing England fast bowler Joey Benjamin in his hotel room during an Ashes tour. (Don't miss the doorstopper of a mobile phone on the bed.)
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Those prehistoric times at the start of the millennium with no streaming - god, what did cricketers on tour in the '90s and early 2000s do with all the off-field time they had? Watch… TV?
During these lockdown times, many cricketers have had to newly learn to do household chores and actively participate in childcare.
How much did their predecessors have to do?
Indoors also means the dressing room: a sanctum of sorts for players.