England head coach Chris Silverwood has suggested that the team management under him, skipper Joe Root and the chairman of selector Ed Smith would persist with the policy of rotation of players and giving them rest as and when they need to go back to their families.
He went on to add that the policy will continue irrespective of the enormity of the series and hence players will be rested even in the Ashes Series scheduled to take place at the end of this year and obviously during the English summer
"Could players be flying home midway through the Ashes? We have to be proactive in looking after them, so it's certainly something that we may have to look at, yes,” Silverwood said in a virtual press conference.
"Will the policy continue into the English summer? It's certainly something we have to be aware of and consider because we don't know what the landscape will look like from a Covid point of view.”
"We have to look after our players. We want to keep them fit, fresh, healthy and on the park and make sure we're trying to get it right. We're constantly talking about it and trying to make sure we're doing it to the best of our ability.”
"I don't think it's acceptable to push somebody until they break and then try and pick them up. We have to make the intervention before anybody does break so we can get them back in an England shirt quicker.”
"Equally, everyone misses their family. The families miss the players that are here. If we can't get the families to the players as we normally would, it's important we do our best to get the players to the families. From a well-being point of view, it's so important these players stay connected with their families.
England team management came under severe criticism after they rested James Anderson from the winning playing XI after the first Test, but the management has been quite vocal about being ‘proactive’ in the management of the mental aspect of the game.