ECB Announces Plans To Restart Individual Training For The Players From Next Week

England Cricket Board’s director Ashley Giles said that initial plans announced on Thursday planned to restart individual training for the players from next week. Read below to know more.

The on-going coronavirus pandemic has had a huge impact on the cricketing world. Many major cricketing tournaments have either been called-off or postponed amid the global pandemic. Meanwhile, England’s managing director Ashley Giles said that initial plans announced on Thursday to get the country’s leading cricketers back to training as it should be safer than going to the supermarket.

Yet the former England spinner added that it was “not realistic” for players to spend 10 weeks in squad quarantine away from their families if international matches to take place amid the coronavirus. The pandemic has pushed the start of the English cricket season to the earliest by July 1st.

But the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has a full home international program still scheduled, beginning with a three-Test series against the West Indies, initially scheduled for June, which is now expected to start in July.

There will be three more Test matches against Pakistan and limited-overs match with Australia and Ireland. The British government published guidelines on how elite sportsmen and women should return to training on Wednesday.

The ECB responded by choosing a still-to-be confirmed 30-player training team, with bowlers leading the way from Wednesday next week on seven grounds. Batsmen and wicketkeepers will start their programs after a two-week span, once the bowlers have reached their desired loading efforts, with 11 venues in total expected to host training sessions.

Starting with the bowlers, England’s attack will have seven weeks before the rescheduled first test to get over under the belt. Players will train individually with a coach and physio attending on a staggered basis.

Recently, Ben Stokes ran half marathon to raise funds for the people affected by the coronavirus pandemic while Jos Buttler auctioned his World Cup winning jersey to raise funds to provide help to hospitals.