England Stars To Get A Breather
Flintoff - getting a breather.
Peter Moores admits he has been "slightly selfish" in his decision to rest some England players from the climax to the county season to try and keep them fresh for the winter schedule.
Every player who has been involved with both England's Test and one-day squad has been told to take the rest of the season off in preparation for the tour to India before Christmas, a further tour to West Indies after the New Year and the visit of Sri Lanka and Australia next summer.
The only exception is fast bowler Steve Harmison, who only featured in one Test this summer and came out of one-day retirement for the NatWest Series.
Moores said: "You have to be slightly selfish about it because you have to look after the players. We know there are a lot of bowlers in there and we have to look at the risk of injury to players like (Stuart) Broad and (James) Anderson and people like that are high.
"You can see that when you have players who are fresh and are not carrying niggles like (Andrew) Flintoff and Harmison it makes a massive difference at international level."
He stressed: "I hope the counties will be understanding. We've tried all the way through my time as England coach to release players whenever we can to the counties and give them an opportunity.
"It works both ways because we know if people play county cricket it's good for them but there's a limit to what they can play and not play.
"It's not just a physical but it's a mental break as well and I think it would be wrong not to give them this opportunity to freshen up and get ready to go for the winter."
England face a gruelling schedule before Christmas - as well as the trip to India is the 10 days away to play in the multi-million dollar match in Antigua against Stanford's All Stars.
"It's been a gruelling summer schedule and it's important for those players involved in both the Test and ODI squads to be rested ahead of what promises to be a hectic winter," said Moores.
While Harmison will be available for Durham's final four championship matches, the rest of England's regular players are set for a rest although Alastair Cook has been released to play in Essex's Pro40 match against Warwickshire on September 7 and a Twenty20 floodlit challenge match against Hampshire on Friday September 5.
Nottinghamshire, another county with title aspirations, will miss left-arm seamer Ryan Sidebottom because he has been ruled out for the remainder of the season with the groin injury which kept him out of the current series against South Africa.