England cricket: Tests in July would be 'big achievement', says coach Rob Ahmun
- Published
Training during a pandemic is 'a far cry from what normal cricket is like'
Staging Test matches in July would be a big achievement for cricket, according to England strength and conditioning coach Rob Ahmun.
He is supervising the return to training for England players from his home on the west Wales coast.
England are due to face the West Indies in July if all goes according to plan.
"Cricket lovers in the UK would be ecstatic, and sport lovers in general, to see live sport on British TV," Ahmun told BBC Sport Wales.
An extended group of England bowlers have started individual training under Ahmun's remote control, with batsman and wicket-keepers to follow in June.
They all agreed to take part as cricket takes its first tentative steps back towards normality amid the Covid-19 crisis.
"It would be a big achievement for the sport to get from where we were back in March, the steps we've taken to keep the players fit, progressing the cricket skills, and to get a Test match on show would be a fantastic effort for England Cricket," said Ahmun, who spent more than a decade with Glamorgan and has also worked at Surrey.
But with fast bowlers in particular likely to feel the physical effects of spending most of their time under lockdown, it is a gradual process - despite Ahmun's efforts in buying home gym equipment for leading players in the early days of the pandemic.
"What we've been concerned about is the amount of time it takes to build up the volumes (of training) for a Test match bowler," he added.
"Seven or eight weeks is ideal, so the fact they've moved back to bowling on Monday, Wednesday and Friday has given them more structure."
Ahmun is quick to pay credit to the county staff who have been putting into practice the physical programmes he has devised at home in Ceredigion, even though he admits the early stages are a "far cry" from normal cricket life.
Rob Ahmun (third from left) joined the England staff in 2014
"I've been working at home here in Aberarth in west Wales since March, all my work has been through Zoom, FaceTime and phone calls. It's certainly been different after spending most of my career doing face-to-face coaching - it's been challenging but effective.
"We're having to collaborate really closely with the counties. There's a county physio, a county S and C (strength and conditioning) coach and a Covid officer in places where the lads are training, such as Surrey, Notts and Sussex, so the county staff are delivering the programmes for us."
Ahmun and the rest of the England staff are preparing to meet up in a sealed-off environment in June before the Test series against West Indies, with Southampton's Ageas Bowl and Old Trafford mooted as likely venues because of the hotel facilities at those grounds.
"Bringing the players together, there has to be a two-week quarantine period. We've got to come together as a unit and do cricket group work, so we'll probably move into camp around the last week in June. Then the team has to stay together for that three-match Test period," Ahmun said.
While playing in front of spectators may be further down the line, cricket is inching closer to providing the top-level action it needs to justify the television cash that is the key to financing the professional game in England and Wales.