The England cricket team, after their 1-4 and 0-3 drubbing in the recently concluded series vs India, has drawn a lot of criticism from the ex-cricketers. Ravi Shastri and Kevin Pietersen were critical with the way the team skipped practice sessions, and instead chose to play golf.
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After the series, skipper Jos Buttler had defended the team saying, there was no “lazy environment or lack of effort” within the team. And now team coach Brendon McCullum has come out in the defence of the team. Surprisingly, in the entire tour the team only had six practice sessions.
The head coach said: “We’ve done lots of training. We have had injuries in the camp so we’ve backed guys off a little bit to make sure we had a fit team. We have three training sessions in Pakistan [before the Champions Trophy starts].
Brydon Carse, Jacob Bethell and Jamie Smith Injured
“Guys have come from a lot of cricket and keeping guys fresh is just as important, especially when you have injuries. Hopefully in Pakistan we will have a fully-fit squad to pick from and we look forward to a fresh challenge. It’s been a tough lesson but hopefully it’s been great preparation for the tournament.”
The coach the also opened up on the injury statuses of a few players.. “[Duckett] has had quite a lot of cricket over the last little while. We will make that call, work out if he’s going to be at risk, if he’s in or out. Jamie [Smith] would have been a risk (in the final ODI) but he will be available for the first game (at the Champions Trophy).”
“With Brydon, hopefully his toe has healed by then and he is available for the first game. Overton feels OK, he felt a little bit of tightness after the last game but he should be fine for the first one. Jofra should be available. That’s good news.”
England’s Champions Trophy squad: Jos Buttler (captain), Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Tom Banton, Harry Brook, Brydon Carse, Ben Duckett, Jamie Overton, Jamie Smith, Liam Livingstone, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Saqib Mahmood, Phil Salt, Mark Wood
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