Warwickshire to fly home from pre-season tour

The Edgbaston county have been at La Manga; their bowlers arrived on March 5, with the remainder of the squad arriving five days later

• Coronavirus and cricket: Tours and competitions postponed, cancelled and affected by Covid-19

Warwickshire are to return from their pre-season tour early.

The first team bowlers flew out to La Manga on March 5, before being joined by the remainder of the squad five days later.

However, the group – along with management – will travel back to Birmingham on Saturday. They had been due to remain in Spain until March 21, with games initially planned against Hampshire.

Paul Farbrace, the club’s sport director, said: “We have been closely monitoring the coronavirus situation in Spain and have been working closely with our tour partners Sporta Group to get the latest local information.

“Whilst the Murcia region of Spain is currently one of the least affected parts of the country, the health and wellbeing of our playing squad and management is our utmost priority and bringing them back to Edgbaston is the best outcome for everyone.

“We will continue our pre-season preparations at Edgbaston next week ahead of the first friendly versus Leicestershire, which starts on Thursday 26 March.

“Our thanks go to Sporta Group for its support throughout the tour process and to La Manga Club for being outstanding hosts and for providing such great facilities to support our 2020 season preparations over the last few days.”

Gloucestershire and Glamorgan cancelled their own trips to Spain on Friday; they had been due to leave for the camp on March 18 and 19, respectively.