England bowlers to resume training this week

The ECB have confirmed that 18 bowlers will resume training this week as England ramp up plans for a return of international cricket.

Although original plans to return to training on Wednesday had to be delayed due to a series of practical issues, the first group of players will attend nets on Thursday. Others will attend on Friday with the rest of the training group - the batsmen and keepers - returning to nets on June 1.

In the short term, the training sessions are likely to be lonesome affairs. The bowlers will be expected to turn up in the appropriate training kit and with their own batch of cricket balls, bowl into an empty net and retrieve their own ball. A physio, observing social distancing, will be at each venue to accommodate the sessions, with coaches joining the sessions next week.

While the ICC cricket committee decided earlier this week only to forbid the use of saliva on the ball, the ECB guidelines also prohibit the use of sweat.

And while bowling to a coach wearing a mitt is termed as individual training, the coach will be expected to provide their own mitt, wear a glove on their other hand and wipe down all equipment between sessions.

The ECB are yet to confirm the names of those players involved in the sessions, but it is understood they include five from Somerset.

The grounds used in this first stage of training will be The Cooper Associates County Ground, Edgbaston, Emirates Old Trafford, Emirates Riverside, Kia Oval, Trent Bridge and The 1st Central County Ground. Additional venues will be used when the batsmen and keepers return to training.

The ECB have yet to confirm the names of those involved, but they are believed to be: Sam Curran, Amar Virdi (both Surrey); Jamie Overton, Craig Overton, Dom Bess, Jack Leach, Lewis Gregory (all Somerset); Mark Wood, Ben Stokes (both Durham); James Anderson, Saqib Mahmood, Matt Parkinson (all Lancashire); Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire); Ollie Robinson, Jofra Archer (both Sussex); Chris Woakes, Olly Stone (both Warwickshire), Moeen Ali (Worcestershire, but expected to train at Edgbaston).