England contracted players keeping active with personalised fitness programmes and training equipment

With uncertainty surrounding when – or if – the domestic and international summers can underway, athletes have been restricted as sport worldwide has ground to a halt

All of England’s centrally contracted cricketers – men and women – have been given their own individualised home training routines in order to maintain their fitness during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

With uncertainty surrounding when – or if – the domestic and international summers can get underway, athletes have been restricted as sport worldwide has ground to a halt.

However, the ECB has ensured that each player receives a supply of equipment provided by the governing body to aid their physical conditioning. This includes TRX ropes, resistance bands, medicine balls and kettle bells.

Rob Ahmun, the ECB’s national lead coach for strength and conditioning, explained: “We’ve set up individual programmes for them based on their home constraints – we’ve worked out what kit they’ve got available already, added to the kit we’ve given them, and tailored that to make sure the players are getting adequate physical preparation done.”

As restrictions remain in place, Ahmun’s team will use video calls to interact with players, as well as watching and coaching them as they train.

“It’s about maintaining their physical conditioning and making sure they don’t regress,” he added. “If the season does come about and we know we have, say, a six-week build-up to the season, we’ve ensured the players aren’t starting for a training base of zero, they’re starting from a decent base so they can hit the ground running.”

^{Joe Root's side was in Sri Lanka until their Test tour was postponed on March 13}

England Test captain Joe Root, who added that he was being kept busy by his young son, said: “While it has been good to get some downtime after our return from Sri Lanka, keeping my fitness up is really important so I can be at the top of my game when we get back on the field.

“We’d obviously much rather be playing cricket right now, but this gives us an opportunity to recover from a demanding past 12 months and get our bodies in good shape for when matches resume.”

England Women’s captain Heather Knight, whose side was taking part in a T20 World Cup semi-final less than a month ago, admitted: “It’s obviously not ideal but it’s a great way of trying to stay in shape and keep ticking over.

“As cricketers I think we’re pretty used to keeping fit remotely but this is a new challenge – we’ll all just be doing what we can to maintain our levels and hopefully be as ready as we can when we get back playing, whenever that comes.”

The ECB revealed on Friday that no cricket will be played before May 28, with all recreational cricket suspended until further notice.

The international calendar gets underway in June, with England’s men due to face West Indies and Knight’s side with two T20Is against India scheduled for late June. Despite the holding date mooted, there is no guarantee that cricket will begin then.