Giles White On Hampshire's Back-To-Training Programme

Hampshire’s first team players have returned to training as of Wednesday 1 July, their first session since the beginning of April due to the coronavirus lockdown, as they look to build towards the domestic season's scheduled start date of August 1.

Hampshire's return-to-training programme will be implemented at Arundel CC, given England Men's use of the The Ageas Bowl as their bio-secure base ahead of the #raisethebat Test Series with the West Indies.

Director of Cricket Giles White, said: “We initially thought we would share the The Ageas Bowl with the ECB but the way things have played out with the restrictions which have made the ground bio-secure, safety comes first.

“We sorted out coming to Arundel within a matter of days and they’ve been fantastic – it has worked out really well.

“The surfaces are outstanding at Arundel [where County Championship, Vitality Blast and Kia Super League matches have regularly been hosted] and the environment lends itself to entertaining the group regularly over this period.

There have been strict routines that England’s white-ball trio James Vince, Liam Dawson and Mason Crane have been adhering to since their early return as part of the ECB's back-to-training group last month.

A temperature test and questionnaire will be filled in before leaving the house, before another temperature gauge by is taken by physio James Clegg on arrival – with a ‘one skin, one ball’ policy to avoid cross-contamination between players.

The squad will be equally split into four groups of six and will train independently of each other under one of coaches Adi Birrell, Alfonso Thomas, Tony Middleton and Jimmy Adams.

“There won’t be any cross over within the groups so if someone was to get the virus then we could lockdown that group and the rest could continue,” White said.

From that point, the sessions will return to familiarity. White added: “We would look at having a net. There is a natural social distance in cricket, especially in practice.

Vince, Dawson and Crane have shown that the measures are effective and easy to follow.

White said: “Those guys are pretty much used to it now, they know what they are doing, and it runs pretty smoothly.

“I wouldn’t anticipate it taking too long before the guys get to grips with it, hopefully within a week or so they’ll be used to it.

“They will get a briefing from the physio on arrival and then it’s for the coaches, medical and support staff to make sure that we adhere to the regulations and guidelines.

“It is human nature that once you do something for a period of time then it becomes a habit and you end up functioning in that way.

“It is something we will keep an eye on but from what I’ve seen over the last two weeks, I don’t see any problem with the guys coming back to training.”

There will be four absentees from training, with Kyle Abbott, Rilee Rossouw, Brad Wheal and Fidel Edwards unable to join given the current restrictions on international travel.

“None of those have flights yet as there are issues with them coming over,” White said.

“We are currently working through that with the different individuals.

“They will now start to work through some back to bowling programmes.”

The make-up of the physical fixture list from August onwards is yet to be confirmed – with county chairmen due to meet next week to discuss the options.

Hampshire are still discussing what they would like to see from the resumption, but safety will be at the forefront of their decision-making.

“Safety comes first. We have to look at it in the context of what’s going on around us.''

But for now, there is a new season buzz around Hampshire.

“A few weeks ago, speaking to a group and it was doom and gloom; it didn’t look like we were going to get any cricket,” White revealed. “Now, things have moved and cricket is going to happen from August 1.

“There is an excitement about that. Firstly, seeing each other again, but also picking up a bat or a ball is something that these guys do pretty much every day of the year. It has been such a big gap they are raring to go.”

Words & Interview: Alex Smith, Reporters Network