In this file photo, Jofra Archer warms up. (Source: Reuters)
Following almost two months of lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic, around 30 England men’s players will resume the first phase of individual training over the next few weeks.
The move comes in the wake of the official government advice, published on Wednesday, which set out the safety protocols and social distancing measures necessary to safeguard the players and staff during the Covid-19 outbreak.
However, the players’ focus will be on individual field-based skills and full nets sessions will not resume for another two weeks.
“These are the first steps for players return to training ahead of international cricket potentially resuming later this summer,” said Ashley Giles, England men’s managing director.
“The safety of players, staff and our community is our first priority throughout this protocol. We are committed to adhering to public health guidelines and Government directives intended to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
“To be clear, we will only train and potentially play cricket behind closed doors if we know it is absolutely safe to do so and is fully supported by the Government.
“We are in constant dialogue with players, coaches and counties to determine what is possible during this period and what facilities will be available to us. We are thankful that we have a united front across all of cricket’s stakeholders to prepare the players in a safe and secure environment.”
“We are going to be asking approximately 30 players to go back to training so there is no official selection process at the moment. We will need a larger group of players given we are planning for the strictest of conditions behind closed doors.”
“These are the very first tentative steps back to playing cricket,” Giles said.
“This is individual-based training, so in many ways we should be able to get control of the environment so it’s safer to go back to practice than it is to go to the supermarket. It should be that controlled an environment. In this first phase, this should be a safer environment than going about daily life as it is: shopping, etc.,” he further added.