England bowlers to make training return next week ahead of West Indies series... but batsmen must wait

Staggered return: Stuart Broad and the rest of England's centrally-contracted bowlers will begin individualised training programmes next week
AFP via Getty Images

England's bowlers will return to training by next Wednesday in a bid to get them ready for the series against West Indies.

Following Government guidelines, the England and Wales Cricket Board announced on Thursday that centrally contracted bowlers would begin “an individualised training programme”.

But batsmen and wicketkeepers will not return to training for another fortnight, ahead of cricket’s resumption from July 1.

Players will train individually on a staggered basis with a coach, a medical officer who is an ECB or county physio and a strength and conditioning coach.

County coaches are to be brought in to meet the individual demands of so many players, with the ECB funding the programme.

Temperature tests will be taken before each training session by the medical officers, who will wear personal protective equipment.

England’s women will not resume training until the end of June, and discussions are ongoing about a back-to-training protocol for the county game.

Meanwhile, Cricket West Indies chief executive Johnny Grave warned that his players were “very nervous” about travelling to England but said he was confident the tour would go ahead.

"There will be no coercing players into this tour," Grave said.

"If you grow up in a country where the population might only be 60,000 or 70,000 people, to be thinking the UK has had over 30,000 deaths is a massive figure."

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