Dom Sibley has a plan to ensure England blip is only temporary

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Empty stadiums. Fake crowd noise. Sanitisation breaks. Bio-secure bubbles. Hotel quarantine. When a young Dom Sibley was plugging away, working on his game at Ashtead CC and at Whitgift School while dreaming of playing for England, it wouldn't have looked and sound like this.

Eighteen months into a fledgeling international career and the 25-year-old is still to play in front of a home crowd. Last summer's clashes with West Indies and Pakistan were put behind closed doors, meaning Sibley hasn't felt that roar of a partisan crowd or experienced the adulation that comes with performing for your country.

"I went as a kid to support England at Lord's and The Oval to watch Test matches and you dream of doing that in front of full houses," he told The Cricketer. "To have the opportunity to do that this summer would be amazing."

While there is no suggestion that Sibley's unbroken run of 18 successive Test appearances since his debut in Mount Maunganui is about to be brought to an abrupt end when New Zealand are the visitors in June, early season injury has thwarted attempts to cement his place.

A shelled chance at slip off Tim Bresnan on day one of Warwickshire's recent County Championship win over Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge led to a fractured finger and at least two games on the sidelines. Yet to resume training and unclear how the injury will react in the line of fire, a return in time for the visit of Worcestershire next week seems unlikely.

That means opportunities to exorcise the demons of a torrid tour of India will have to wait. The four-Test series represented Sibley's first sustained period of lean form in an England shirt as Axar Patel and Ravichandran Ashwin restricted him to a single fifty and an average of 16.75 in eight innings.

While there is no disgrace in being overwhelmed by the best Test on the planet in alien conditions, it was another insight into life at this level; lessons which Sibley hopes to apply this summer when India are again the opponents.

^{Sibley began his home England career behind closed doors}

"It was a great experience to go out and play in India against the No.1 team," he explained. "But at the same time disappointed that we didn't win the series and that I didn't contribute more after those first few Test matches. There are a lot more learnings there to be had and hopefully, if I get the chance to get back there in the future, I'll be in a better place to succeed on those types of wickets.

"People told me batting against the new ball in Asia is the best time to bat; this series might have been a bit different. It was spin from the start and one was either skidding (Axar) or spinning quickly (Ashwin). We practise loads against the new ball in the lead-up but nothing can prepare you for what you get out there when you get into the game environment. 

"I feel I prepared really well for the series but when you get into a low rut of scores you have to learn how to deal with it better. It is always easier to reflect, but looking back there are things I know that I can do better in the future.

"Hopefully, it doesn't happen like that this summer. But if it does you have to try and find your ways to not make those periods too long and get back to scoring big runs."

Permitted a period off following the end of the India Test series, April and May's county schedule was meant to be when rest and recuperation would pay dividends for Sibley. And then injury struck.

"I was really excited to be back with Warwickshire again after missing last summer being in the bubble and not playing," he added.

"The boys are going well but it has been difficult to watch from the sidelines but also good to see the guys doing well and hopefully I can be back out there contributing to a few more wins as soon as possible.

"In the second innings at Derby, we went off for snow. It was nice to be back in English conditions, the ball did a bit which I guess is always going to happen early season. 

^{India's spinners got the better of England's top-order throughout the four-Test series}

"It would have been nice to have played the games at Trent Bridge and against Essex as they looked like better wickets. The boys have played well and I am pleased to see them racking up the wins."

Of course, much has changed for the Epsom-born batter since his last domestic first-class season, when he signed off against Yorkshire with 1,428 runs, a haul which would force the hand of the England selectors.

He managed just two innings back in the Championship (29 & 0* vs Derbyshire) before he became England's latest hand injury victim, and yet that was enough to detect a shift in attention.

"Coaches talk about different pressure but at the same time it is about sticking to what I do, trying to be as normal as possible and trying to bat for a long period of time," he said on his red-ball domestic return.

"I try not to think about it that way because you end up putting pressure on yourself to do things that when you perform to your best you don't do. 

"It is a case of finding that balance of making sure you train hard and get in a good mental state where you aren't focusing on that sort of stuff and just the next ball coming down."

One of the greatest changes in Sibley's career has been beyond his control. His leg-side, front-on stance has sparked forensic analysis and constant comment under the international cricket microscope. 

"When those guys were playing I am sure it happened to them," Sibley kindly observes. "It is their turn and it is their job I suppose. For me it is a case of putting my head down, training really hard and keep improving and putting scores on the board. 

^{A Warwickshire return may have to wait for the England opener}

"Up until this winter I'd been able to do that and if I can score some runs for Warwickshire and hopefully get picked this summer I can score some runs. 

"When you're scoring runs people don't tend to get into your technique as much. I know that as well as anyone, so if I can keep scoring runs that will keep the pressure off."

Every run Sibley is able to score will be more valuable than ever during the 2021 summer having signed up to the Lord's Taverners Runs & Wickets For Change campaign, which allows fans to sponsor their favourite player for every contribution they make this summer. Women's captain Heather Knight and Zak Crawley are the other England players involved.

Central to that effort for Sibley will be recapturing what first made him attractive to England. Speaking to The Cricketer before Sibley's Test debut in November 2019, two figures at the centre of his development - Ashtead director of cricket Matt Homes and Surrey academy chief Gareth Townsend - both commented on the right-hander's ability to find a way in the game, regardless of the challenges facing him.

Central to that success is the development of a proper strategy in training. There is no reason why that tried and tested approach can't help arrest this current blip.

"Always look to challenge yourself in training," Sibley outlined. "When I was younger you think you've cracked the game but it bites you pretty quickly and you have to go back to the drawing board. Sometimes the games constantly makes you do that. 

"You have to change things with your technique or you have to change some things with your mental approach. That doesn't change as you go through. With my technique, I want to hit as many balls in training and get as much time in the middle."

A new partnership between ECB and Lord’s Taverners will make disability cricket accessible in every county in England and Wales as part of the biggest investment into a disability cricket programme.