England to rest Indian Premier League players for New Zealand Test series

England look set to rest players who were involved in the Indian Premier League for the Test series against New Zealand next month.

The squad for the two-Test series will be named next week but Jos Buttler, Jonny Bairstow, Chris Woakes, Sam Curran and Moeen Ali won’t be included.

The players who returned from India following the suspension of the IPL due to the coronavirus pandemic will only complete their period of temporary quarantine on Sunday.

Meanwhile, England head coach Chris Silverwood will not take charge of the two one-day series against Sri Lanka and Pakistan this summer in order to take a break in a hectic year.

His assistants Paul Collingwood and Graham Thorpe will lead the ODI team.

Having been part of England’s tours of Sri Lanka and India earlier this year, Silverwood said it was important to keep the backroom staff “as fresh as possible”.

“It’s not fair on the players if I am operating at less than 100 per cent and it is not fair on myself either,” said Silverwood.

“Thorpey will do one and Colly will do the other and I’ll use it as my break to refresh and get ready for what is ahead of us.”

After hosting seven Tests as well as the 12 white-ball internationals, England are scheduled to tour Pakistan and Bangladesh ahead of the T20 World Cup in October.

Joe Root’s Test side then face a trip Down Under for the Ashes series against Australia, followed by a tour of the Caribbean at the start of next year.

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Silverwood is not yet sure whether he will have a break in that time.

“I’m not going to deny, it’s not easy for me (to switch off from the job),” he said. “Obviously I am wholly on board with what we are doing. I am very embedded in it now. I do find it hard to switch off but I’ll do my best.”

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