Paul Collingwood has urged England to take caution with their scheduling otherwise players will "break physically and emotionally."
Interim coach Collingwood was appointed after Chris Silverwood's dismissal following the 4-0 Ashes thrashing in Australia, where the first Test starting just 28 days after England lost the T20 World Cup semi-final to New Zealand.
More disappointment followed against West Indies on Sunday as Joe Root's tourists fell to a fourth consecutive Test series defeat since winning in Sri Lanka at the start of 2021.
While questions remain over Root's captaincy tenure and the next coaching appointment by England, Collingwood suggested players will struggle to continue with the ongoing packed schedule.
Indeed, England will want to turn their Test fortunes around having won only one of their last 17 red-ball outings, but they also have another T20 World Cup later this year and their ODI title defence in India to contend with in 2023.
"I'm sure the new coach will want to pick the best team he can possibly have, but if you look at that fixture list, we're going to have to be very careful," Collingwood told reporters.
"Have a look at the fixture list; we're going to blow a lot of players out of the water very quickly.
"Ben Stokes [who took an indefinite break from cricket to protect his mental health and fitness] has been a prime example. He's put his body on the line in this series because he wants to win games of cricket.
"If players continue to do that, they'll break. They'll break physically and emotionally. So, we've got to be a little bit careful to say 'get the best team on the park every time' because that fixture list moving forward is horrific.
"We're all playing Covid catch-up; we all know that. It's going to be hectic for the next two years because we've got to catch up on games and organisations need to catch up on money."
Collingwood reiterated his desire to take the England team forward, even if acting within the backroom staff, while he expressed his support for Root amid scrutiny over his leadership credentials.
"I've put my hat in the ring and if they want me, they know where I am," he said. "They've seen what I can do. I haven't got much experience as a head coach, but you would never get a job if that was the case.
"I feel as though what I've done over the last few weeks is a good start, but it's only a start. If I was to take this team forward, I'd want to make them a lot better as quickly as possible.
"There's a lot of speculation on the way they're going to do it, and that will come from the new managing director."
On Root, he added: "Sometimes, it amazes me that he gets questioned, because of how it feels within the dressing room.
"I can see it because we are not winning games of cricket and, when you have that kind of record, I can understand where the noise comes from.
"But you have to understand how it feels in the dressing room and how strong a leader he is. He has the full backing from all the players and the management as well. It feels like he is still very much our number one to take this team forward.
"You can see the passion, the drive, and there's a real hunger to get it right. These aren't just words coming out of his mouth. He's desperate to get the team back to winning games of cricket."
Borthwick names unchanged starting England team for Australia clash
Steve Borthwick has named an unchanged starting team for England's match against Australia on Saturday with two changes on the bench.
England enter their second November Test looking to bounce back from their narrow 24-22 defeat to New Zealand last weekend.
Borthwick, however has elected to name the same group that started against the All Blacks, though Henry Slade will shift to inside centre, while Ollie Lawrence moves to outside centre.
Marcus Smith retains his place at fly-half while Jamie George continues to lead the side at hooker, but there is no place for Theo Dan or Ben Curry.
The pair are replaced by Luke Cowan-Dickie and Ollie Sleightholme as England move from a six-two split between forwards and backs to a five-three combination.
Hooker Cowan-Dickie will make his first England appearance since November 2022 if he is introduced off the bench.
“Facing Australia is always a massive challenge, and we’ll work diligently this week to ensure we’re physically and tactically prepared to take on the Wallabies,” said Borthwick.
“The passion and energy from the crowd at Allianz Stadium last weekend was absolutely brilliant, from the opening whistle to the final moments, and we can't wait to be back at home this Saturday."
England squad in full:
George Furbank, Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, Ollie Lawrence, Henry Slade, Tommy Freeman, Marcus Smith, Ben Spencer; Ellis Genge, Jamie George (captain), Will Stuart, Maro Itoje, George Martin, Chandler Cunningham-South, Tom Curry, Ben Earl.
Replacements: Luke Cowan-Dickie, Fin Baxter, Dan Cole, Nick Isiekwe, Alex Dombrandt, Harry Randall, George Ford, Ollie Sleightholme
Dottin among nominees for ICC Women’s Player of the Month for October
West Indies all-rounder Deandra Dottin has been named among the three nominees for the ICC Women’s Player of the Month award for the month of October.
Dottin made her comeback for the national side at the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in the UAE, and was a driving force as the islanders reached their first semi-final at the event since 2018.
She was instrumental in victories over Scotland and Bangladesh, but saved her most valuable contributions for the latter stages, where she shone with the bat, ball and in the field in their group stage win over England, before producing a memorable individual display with 33 runs and four wickets in the thrilling semi-final defeat to eventual champions New Zealand.
Dottin will be going up against New Zealand’s Amelia Kerr and South Africa’s Laura Wolvaardt for the award.
The nominees for the Men’s award are New Zealand’s Mitchell Santner, Pakistan’s Noman Ali and South Africa’s Kagiso Rabada.
Kevin Sinclair replaced by Junior Sinclair in Harpy Eagles Super50 squad after internal report to GCB
All-rounder Kevin Sinclair will take no further part in the Guyana Harpy Eagles CG United Super50 Cup campaign in Trinidad and Tobago. The decision made by the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) followed the submission of an internal report by the Harpy Eagles' management team that it was necessary to replace the player.
The GCB, in making the revelation, also announced that Kevin Sinclair will be replaced by Junior Sinclair in the squad at the tournament.
Though the GCB’s statement did not clarify if sub-standard performance is the reason behind Kevin Sinclair’s ejection from the squad, it pointed out that it was a “necessary squad adjustment.”
“Following an internal report from the Guyana Harpy Eagles management, it has been decided that Kevin Sinclair will no longer be participating in this year’s competition,” the statement read.
In the three matches played in the Super50 Cup, Kevin Sinclair tallied 14 runs and snared three wickets.
He made 14 from 16 balls against Windward Volcanoes and took 2-66 from 10 overs in the same match.
However, he did not bat in the rained-out contest against Combined Campuses and Colleges Marooners and was dismissed without a score against Barbados Pride and only took 1-26 from 10 overs in that same match.
The Guyana Harpy Eagles are winless after three matches.
A similar situation arose last year during the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) T20 tournament when organisers announced Kevin left the Guyana Amazon Warriors squad for “personal reasons.”
Kevin Sinclair’s departure opens the door for Junior Sinclair to take up a spot in the Harpy Eagles squad ahead of Tuesday’s contest against Leeward Islands Hurricanes at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy.
Guyana Harpy Eagles Squad: Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Matthew Nandu, Tevin Imlach (captain), Kevlon Anderson, Kemol Savory, Junior Sinclair, Keemo Paul (vice-captain), Ronaldo Aimohamed, Veerasammy Permaul, Isai Thorne, Ashmead Nedd, Nial Smith, Sylus Tyndall, Rampertab Ramnauth.
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