England vs New Zealand: Visitors' IPL contingent joins team's training ahead of two-match Test series

Southampton: New Zealand players involved in the now-suspended IPL-14, including skipper Kane Williamson, have joined the team’s training session for the upcoming two-match Test series against hosts England, New Zealand Cricket (NZC) said on Monday. The IPL contingent comprising Williamson, Kyle Jamieson, Mitchell Santner, team physio Tommy Simsek and Chris Donaldson, the national team’s strength and conditioning coach, arrived in the UK last week from the Maldives, where they stopped over after their departure from India. “Back together! In positive news, the IPL contingent have joined team training for the first time today. In not so positive news the team are training inside again,” the BlackCaps tweeted. The Kiwis are scheduled to play England in two Tests in the first and second week of next month, following which they will face India in the ICC World Test Championship final from 18-22 June. Senior New Zealand batsman Ross Taylor on Sunday said the suspension of the IPL “played into India’s hands”, giving Virat Kohli’s team more time to get acclimatised to English conditions before the inaugural WTC final. The Indian Premier League, which was suspended earlier this month due to multiple cases of COVID-19 inside its bubble, was due to finish on 30 May. “For India, IPL finishing early under unfortunate circumstances has probably played into their hands a little,” Taylor had said. “If IPL would have gone on they would have had a smaller preparation but now they will be a lot more conditioned, their bowlers will have their loads up.”