Seeking to reunite with his family in the UK, former New Zealand pacer Iain O’Brien has resorted to crowd-funding to arrange for his tickets after his flights were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 43-year-old from is seeking donations through social networking site Twitter to fund his way back home.
Ok, so trying to raise some money to pay for this flight back to the UK.
— Iain O'Brien (@iainobrien) March 25, 2020
I have an idea. If anyone would love a 20 min Skype/vid call, one on one, talk about all things cricket, politics, sausages, mental health, Sachin, etc
If you’d like that & can spare a couple of $£, DM me
O’Brien played 22 Tests, 10 ODIs and four T20Is for New Zealand but now lives with his wife Rosie and two kids in the UK.
The coronavirus outbreak has so far claimed more than 21,000 lives and infected over 4,00,000 globally, prompting countries to shut down borders.
O’Brien, who was in New Zealand to deal with some mental health issues, had earlier said that he is worried about his wife’s health as she has a lung condition, which puts her at great risk in the rapidly-spreading virus.
“The big bit for me is my wife has a lung condition where if she gets any sort of chest infection it can take time off her life,” O’Brien was quoted as saying by stuff.co.nz after his third attempt to return to UK was met with another cancellation.
“This virus could kill her. With a couple of kids for her to deal with, and her mum is 80, there’s a fair bit on her plate at the moment. I would be kind of keen to take some of that stress off her but I think I’m just adding to it at the moment,” he added.
(With PTI inputs)