Since the last year or so, England has been on the go throughout. Their long season commenced with a tour of Bangladesh, which included an ODI series and a two-match Test series.
That was soon followed by a giant tour of India, comprising of as many as five Tests, three ODI’s and an equal number of T20I’s. A short tour of the Caribbean followed that and now with the home series against the South Africans on, it’s just fair to admit that England has been the busiest side around. This, however, still doesn’t consider multilateral events such as the ICC Champions Trophy.
England coach Trevor Bayliss fears the same and feels that his side could well be a victim of excessive burnout. The side can obviously rotate its first choice players such as Ben Stokes and Joe Root, but with an all-important away Ashes later this year, the focus remains there.
“I’ll put it this way, there is a lot of cricket. Since I’ve been here we have had to give guys a rest because of that,” Bayliss said. “I think we gave Joe Root and Ben Stokes a rest during the one-day series against Australia a couple of years ago. Jos Buttler as well. There is a lot of cricket. “From May 5 earlier this year, there were something like 20 or 21 months out of the next 23 where there are matches on. So there’s an awful lot of cricket.
“There’s an ongoing communication with the players about it. The tell-tale sign of burn out is obviously if they’re not scoring as well or not bowling as well. “Some guys withdraw a little bit within the dressing room environment. Those types of things start to happen and then you’re having a chat and you realise maybe them having a little bit of time off might do them the world of good,” he added.
Adding to the injury management, Bayliss added,
“We have just played seven Test in about 10 weeks on the subcontinent and a lot of Test match cricket in a short space of time can play havoc with guys with niggles,” Bayliss said. “You haven’t got time to get over any niggles especially after you have played two or three games in a row and you have still got another four to go so depth is important.”Injury-wise I would be surprised if there weren’t some injuries and niggles over seven Tests in a short space of time.”