Chris Woakes: Players would put up with quarantine

The England and Warwickshire all-rounder said he believed players would put up with a period of isolation if needed to be able to play in a safe environment amid the global coronavirus pandemic.

The global pandemic has led to a shutdown of cricket in this country until at least May 28 and further delays seem highly likely.

Suggestions including playing behind closed doors in bio-secure environments have been mooted if there can be any action this summer, which could see Tests taking place and England staying at the hotels on site.

That may necessitate the players spending time away from their families and Woakes, whose wife Amie is pregnant with their second child due in September, said of the prospect: “It depends how long for.

“If they said it was going to be for three months, I think players might not be too keen.

“But if it was a three- to four-week window, I think guys would be open to do that without too many issues.”

When the sport does get the green light to resume, fielding sides may find that shining one side of the ball with sweat or saliva in an attempt to gain lateral movement is outlawed.

As a seamer who can move the ball both ways, Woakes will be a keen observer in any decision although he pointed out reverse swing could become instrumental if polishing the ball by traditional means is deemed unsustainable.

He said: “It could potentially change the way things work with the ball. I don’t know if you completely cut out putting saliva on the ball how much that would affect the ball swinging.

“We might find the ball stays dryer and you might get more reverse swing but obviously conditions would depend on that.”

And the Great Barr-born star admitted he has wondered whether the bug that blighted England’s early part of the tour to South Africa last winter and left him confined to his hotel room may have been Covid-19.

Flu-like symptoms and gastroenteritis swept through the tourists’ camp and one of the afflicted was Woakes, who missed the Boxing Day Test at Centurion and was isolated in an effort to prevent the spread of infection.

No England player has been tested for the disease and Woakes pointed out his symptoms would indicate more of a stomach upset. Nevertheless, that has not stopped him from reflecting on the issue.

He said: “You do look back on it and kind of wonder I suppose. Obviously, we have no idea whether it was or it wasn’t. But my symptoms during that time – and I was stuck in that room for nearly a week – were more gastro.

“There were flu-type symptoms in there as well - whether that was down to dehydration and that side of things I’m not sure. Listening to the other guys, their symptoms were relatively similar. So who knows? Potentially.

“At the same time it would be wrong for us to sit here and say we definitely had it because the symptoms being suggested regarding coronavirus seem to be more with the cough.”