Sunday Mirror

NEW FEAR FOR ENGLAND STARS

- BY RICHARD EDWARDS

CRICKET

BURNOUT could replace the coronaviru­s as the major headache facing players in 2021.

And England’s stars are likely to be as badly hit as any in world cricket. Last week England confirmed that their ODI and T20 tour to South Africa will be going ahead next month.

With no end in sight to the pandemic it’s highly likely that the next 12 months are going to put a massive strain on those playing all three formats.

England will kick off the new year with Test assignment­s against Sri Lanka and India before a full summer of cricket that could include the final of the World Test Championsh­ip.

There’s also a re-arranged T20 World

Cup to shoehorn in before England attempt to win back the Ashes.

Tom Moffat, the head of Federation of Internatio­nal Cricketers’ Associatio­ns, said: “That backlog is going to put a lot of stress on the physical and mental health of everyone. We have seen a lot of flexibilit­y shown by both players and administra­tors in terms of getting the show back on the road.

“But that needs to be balanced with the need to provide a duty of care.”

 ??  ?? EXTRA STRAIN: Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer
EXTRA STRAIN: Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer

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