Sri Lanka curfew forces cricket team to boost fitness
Sri Lanka's cricket team have already been ordered onto customised home training regimes during the coronavirus lockdown by coach Mickey Arthur following frequent accusations of poor fitness.
Arthur said the players have been given tailor-made programmes while they wait to see if key tournaments including the Indian Premier League and Twenty20 World Cup will just do it this year.
"I have been sending out exercises to each player," the South African coach said, adding that the strengths and weaknesses of each man were being discussed.
A Sri Lankan sports minister slammed the team's fitness once they suffered a humiliating one-day series defeat against bottom-ranked Zimbabwe in 2017 and early exit from the Champions Trophy.
Dayasiri Jayasekara said Sri Lankan players were "too fat and unfit to field five-day Test matches".
Sri Lanka has since overhauled the coaching team and Arthur said he was talking to each player to monitor progress before international competition resumes.
"We are using this time around to think about the first 90 days of our tenure and recalibrate our individual and team plans in the years ahead to the very important series that people have approaching later in the year," he said in remarks published by the country's cricket board.
"The players all have individual fitness plans to keep them up to date with their degrees of fitness.
"These plans are tailored to the facilities that all player has at his disposal at home to keep up the expected fitness levels."
Sri Lanka's nationwide lockdown, which includes now been extended to a month, started just as the national team were because of commence a two-match Test series against England at home.
But the tourists pulled from the next day of a four-day practice match in Colombo as the coronavirus pandemic intensified.
The virus has claimed five lives and infected at least 176 persons in Sri Lanka.
