Giles urges all to follow all protocols during the Test series amid COVID-19 fears.
Ashley Giles, Director of England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), on Wednesday (June 24), said England’s return to group training at the Ageas Bowl will be serious business while warning the national squad that training at bio-secure bubble will be no “holiday camp” with stringent COVID-19 norms in place.
In a wake of the global COVID-19 pandemic, the ECB set up a bio-secure bubble for the 30-member England squad to train for the West Indies Test series starting on July 8 in Southampton.
All the members of the squad will not be able to away a distance of no more than 200 yards and can’t go anywhere else from the training ground to the hotel that will be on-site where they will live during the series.
However, Giles admitted that it would be challenging for the teams but they have to follow all the protocols to combat the Coronavirus and understand the importance of the seriousness of the situation for the sake of everyone's safety amid the global health crisis.
He further explained, “There could be opportunities for guys to play golf on the course next door but apart from that, there are two sessions of cricket a day, so there is going to be a lot of work. It is about removing as much risk as you can and it is down to all of us to police it. We have been in constant dialogue with the players and they are all very aware of the seriousness of the situation.
People are going to make mistakes, we all are, but for the sake of everyone's safety and the cricket, we need to operate within these protocols as much as we can.”
The former England spinner also hopes players will be allowed to leave and re-enter the team "bubble" during the three-match Test series against West Indies.
Giles further added, “We are going to have to find opportunities to get guys out of the environment and back home but it is important that if they are coming back, that when they leave, they are going to a safe environment. We haven't talked about banning players (from pubs and restaurants) but we would ask them to be sensible, which they have been throughout this whole process. They need to continue that because if you come back into the environment and you haven't been adhering to the guidelines, then you put everyone else and the series at risk.”
He signed off by saying “We could have a very secure bubble, yet the rest of the world is operating at a new normal in terms of going to pubs and restaurants, but our main responsibility is to get this series on the road and keep everyone safe. Especially the West Indies team, who have done so much to come here. We owe them a huge debt of gratitude.”
(With SkySports Inputs)