The England Test squad is planning a training camp in the United Arab emirates (UAE) before Christmas ahead of their back to back tours of Sri Lanka and India, which are scheduled to take place early next year. On Tuesday (August 26) Joe Root’s boys completed their their Test summer against West Indies and Pakistan and their next red-ball assignment, in all likelihood will be in a two-Test series Sri Lanka (a rescheduled tour which was postponed in March this year) in January 2021. Thereafter, they will travel to India for the much-anticipated five-Test series.
However, with the COVID-19 pandemic having wreaked havoc with the schedules, there is still dark clouds hovering upon these tours. But the BCCI president Sourav Ganguly has already said that hosting the England Tests on home soil will be the first priority of the Indian board.
Hence, through a preparation camp in the UAE, the English boys want to be fully geared up for these important assignments.
Talking about this proposed training camp on spin-friendly conditions, England Test skipper Root said that it will providing them a “good chance of competing”.
“It is nice to know that some form of preparation is being considered ahead of the winter tours – if they take place – and it would give us a good chance of competing if it is in sub-continental conditions. If not then we just have to make the most of what is available to us,” Root was quoted saying by The Guardian.
Meanwhile, the English white-ball team is due to tour South Africa in December. So, if the tour happens then a few cricketers like Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler may join either at the start or towards of the training camp, which is likely to take place either in the ICC Academy in Dubai or in the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi.