# Sports

Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer, Rory Burns set to begin training before other England players

Stokes, Archer and Burns had arrived in India directly from England before the rest of their teammates who were in Sri Lanka for the two test series.

SNS | New Delhi | January 30, 2021 3:41 pm

Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer, Rory Burns set to begin training before other England players

England cricketers Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer and Rory Burns are all set to begin training for the upcoming four-match Test series against India on Saturday at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) informed on Saturday.

The ECB further said that unlike the rest of the squad that remains in quarantine, the all-rounder, pacer and the opener would resume training ealrier. The full English team “will train for the first time on Tuesday afternoon”.

“The first group of players — Archer, Burns and Stokes — will practice each morning for the next three days. They are limited to a two-hour session. The entire England touring party received their second PCR COVID-19 test yesterday. All results returned negative results,” said the ECB.

Stokes, Archer and Burns had arrived in India directly from England before the rest of their teammates who were in Sri Lanka to participate in the two test series. The English contingent from the island nation arrived in India on Wednesday earlier this week.

The four-match series starts on February 5 with the first two Tests scheduled to be played in Chennai. The series then moves to Ahmedabad for the third and fourth Tests. The third Test will be a day-night encounter, beginning February 24.

Archer believes that his team have enough options in the spin department to be on level with India. He further said that Indian spinners won’t have an upper hand when the two teams face each other.

“I’ve played lots of Indian Premier League here but nothing in terms of first-class cricket, so the challenges of bowling with a red ball will become clearer,” Archer wrote in his column for the Daily Mail.

“In the IPL the batters have to come at you, whereas in Test cricket they can sit on you for a full session if they want and if the pitch is dead there is nothing you can do about it,” he added.