WITH most local sports at a standstill due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, the Jamaica Cricket Association (JCA) is planning a structured return to senior team training ahead of the possible start of regional competition in 2021.

“They [potential Jamaica Scorpions squad members] are now going to get into the jogging and the gym sessions and then they are going to phase in the technical work,” O’neil Cruickshank, in charge of the JCA’s cricket operations and development, said during an interview yesterday.

“Maybe they’ll be fully into training come November. But they are going to do physical work at the start before they move into any technical work,” he told the Jamaica Observer.

The West Indies four-day tournament ended prematurely in March due to the coronavirus outbreak in the region. Jamaica Scorpions finished joint third behind champions Barbados Pride.

Most Caribbean governments are still wrestling to contain the virus spread, with combined deaths numbering in the hundreds.

Jamaica’s case count stands at 7,813, including 146 fatalities, according to statistics released up to Sunday.

Globally, there has been close to 40 million cases, with over one million of those resulting in deaths.

“There are boxes to be ticked before regional competition can be played. But we have to assume that West Indies will eventually play some [regional] cricket early next year,” Cruickshank said.

“The majority of them [players] have not been engaged in proper cricket apart from doing their physicals and stuff. We also have to be mindful that we can’t have [local] competition to give them the opportunity to play until the [Jamaican] Government gives us that go ahead.

“The best we can do is have a group of them — starting with those who are contracted — doing prep work, and then as we have discussions with the Government we can look to push that up. If they give us an opportunity to play competition then we will look at what’s the best option,” the cricket operations and development manager explained.

He noted that since the summer when the JCA submitted protocol guiding the possible return of cricket, Jamaica’s daily number of cases has increased exponentially, casting doubt regarding the staging of competitive matches in the near future.

“If at the time we put it in the Government was grappling with 15 and 20 cases a day and now we are 10 times that you can imagine the challenge.

“We also know a little bit more about the virus, and even that knowledge tells us that this is not going to go away quickly,” Cruickshank told the Observer.

He added: “The protocols that we’ve put in place we believe they would be sufficient to minimise the threat, as long as people are prepared to abide by those guidelines. But with no directive from the Government we figure nothing can happen except what we have indicated.”