England pick 55 for summer action
Ensuring Test side are at full strength to be priority Virdi and Robinson among the 14 uncapped players
England moved a step closer to returning to international cricket by naming a 55-man training group yesterday.
The group – from which separate Test and limited-overs squads could be selected – has been picked with a start date of July 8, for a Test against West Indies, in mind as optimism grows about England’s summer fixtures.
Included are 14 uncapped players – among them Surrey off-spinner Amar Virdi, and Sussex pace bowler Ollie Robinson, who is the stepson of former England coach Paul Farbrace. David Willey, who was dropped from the final World Cup squad, is recalled.
Alex Hales was not among those named. One-day captain Eoin Morgan had explained this week that Hales had yet to regain the trust of the group. Liam Plunkett, who excelled in the World Cup, was also omitted and, aged 35, seems unlikely to feature again.
England are planning to play in the first months of the season at the Ageas Bowl and Emirates Old Trafford, two venues which have hotels on site and can minimise risks of Covid-19 transmission. Edgbaston is likely to be used as a training venue when there are multiple touring teams in the country.
“What we are wanting to deliver are two broadcast venues and one training venue,” said Steve Elworthy, the Eng- land and Wales Cricket Board’s director of special projects. “The rationale of going to that is to reduce the movement of people. Clearly reducing the amount people move would reduce the risk of infection.”
The ECB is trying to allow for players to exit and re-enter the “bubble” during the summer. Test captain Joe Root’s wife is due to give birth at some point.
If a player were to test positive during a Test, they would be taken to an isolation room, but it is hoped that the match could still continue.
“The latest advice that I’ve got on this is that the medical team on site will make an assessment at the time,” Elworthy said. “That depends on where it is in the game, when it is in the game, what potentially the testing symptom is – all those different elements.”
England’s training group – the selectors emphasised it was not an official squad – was a unique undertaking.
Essentially, planning is based on the strong possibility that any players named in the squad for one format will not be involved in the other for safety reasons. England are set to play warmup matches for their first two series – Tests against West Indies and one-dayers against Ireland – which, combined with the need for greater cover among fast bowlers, informed the decision to select 55 players.
It is expected that, if fulfilling the summer programme is possible, the primary consideration will be to ensure the Test team are at full strength. Multi-format players such as Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes will almost certainly miss the one-day series.
An emphasis was given to building a balanced group, with a particular need for pace bowlers, given their relative scarcity in the English game, and how such cricketers need to be managed carefully. To this end, both Brydon Carse and Henry Brookes, two whose potential belies unremarkable firstclass records, were selected.
Yet, for all the disruption, the circumstances will bring opportunities. If England are to be successful in the next away Ashes series and the T20 World Cup during a brutal 2021-22 winter, they will need a pool of around 30 players. The unexpected chances that fringe players will receive this summer will help identify who they should be.
Meanwhile, England women are also poised to return to training on June 22. The ECB remains hopeful that India and South Africa will visit for their planned series later in the summer.