Northants squad has a clean bill of health as start to 2020 season draws closer

The Northants players haven’t suffered any injury setbacks on their return to training at the County Ground.
The Northants players have been back at work at the County Ground since the beginning of JulyThe Northants players have been back at work at the County Ground since the beginning of July
The Northants players have been back at work at the County Ground since the beginning of July

And the squad is also free of any coronavirus symptoms.

With Covid-19 restrictions easing, and after being given the all-clear to resume practice by the Government at the beginning of July, the County players are being eased back into the old routine.

The bowlers were the first to report back to Wantage Road on July 1, with the batsmen following a week later.

Northants head coach David RipleyNorthants head coach David Ripley
Northants head coach David Ripley
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None of the players had been involved in any cricket activity since the middle of March as they had been on furlough due to the Covid-19 pandemic, so David Ripley may have feared one or two players suffering some stresses and strains as they got back to work.

But with the season start date of August 1 now just a fortnight away, the head coach is delighted with how things have gone as the players work through the stages set out by the England & Wales Cricket Board, and towards normal training and then playing.

“We are just looking forward to playing cricket again, and everything has been going well,” said Ripley.

“The batsmen have been in with us for the past week and have been blowing a few cobwebs away.

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“The bowlers have been in for a while now, and the batters were in for three days last week.

"This week we have moved on and have been operating in small groups of six or seven and having nets on the square.

“We obviously only have a limited number of spin and pace bowling options, but we have spread them around and it has all been going well.

“Next week we will step up to half-squad groups, and then by next Thursday we will start full squad training, and we can get back to the sort of training and practice we are normally used to.”

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Asked if there had been any injury setbacks as yet, a relieved Ripley said: “No, the squad is in really good shape .

“We haven’t had any issues with any sort of injuries as yet.

“The bowlers have all been good and haven’t pulled up with any of niggles or strains, and the batters haven’t worn anything yet, so that is good and long may it continue."

Northants will start their truncated season with four four-day games before moving on to T20 cricket and the Blast, and Ripley added: "As we progress we will be looking to increase the workload of the bowlers.

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"We will be getting more and more overs into them, so that if they are required to bowl 25 or 30 overs in that first game of the season, then they will be able to do that.”

Another encouraging sign is that there have been no health problems with regard to Covid-19 either.

On re-opening the County Ground, the club has followed all of the guidelines laid down by the ECB, but those guidelines don’t include Covid-19 testing.

Arrival times into the Wantage Road are staggered, and all the players and staff have temperature checks on arrival. They also have to update their details regularly on to an app.

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But Covid-19 testing for sports clubs is a very expensive business, and it was deemed that it wasn’t an economically viable route for English domestic cricket to go down.

“It is similar to what happened with the League One and League Two football clubs, who voted to end their seasons as the cost of testing would be too high,” said Ripley.

“So we haven’t been tested, but everybody is well at the moment and I really hope it stays that way.

“There is still the chance of hitting a bump in the road along the way with that one, but I really hope that isn’t the case as it would be a setback.

“But we would just have to deal with it. If anybody did show symptoms in the group then they would have to self-isolate, and we would just carry on without them. But it all seems to be going well.”