Coronavirus forces England to ditch hand shakes in Sri Lanka: Root

03 March, 2020
Coronavirus forces England to ditch hand shakes in Sri Lanka: Root
England captain Joe Root on Monday said his players will never be shaking practical their tour of Sri Lanka in a bid in order to avoid the coronavirus.

Root was quizzed on the coronavirus on Monday as England prepared to depart for his or her two-Test tour.

The Yorkshire batsman said rather than shaking hands, England players will greet the other person with fist bumps.

England were hit by some gastroenteritis and flu problems before and through the first Test on their recent tour of South Africa.

"Following the illnesses that swept through the squad in South Africa, we are well alert to the value of keeping contact to the very least and we've been given some really sound and sensible advice from our medical team to help prevent spreading germs and bacteria," Root said.

"We aren't shaking hands with each other, using instead the well-established fist bump, and we are washing hands regularly and wiping down surfaces using the anti-bacterial wipes and gels we've been given inside our immunity packs.

"There is absolutely no suggestion that the tour will be affected, but of course it is an evolving situation so we are in regular connection with the authorities and can proceed as advised, but at this time we fully expect the tour to keep as planned."

England will play the to begin two practice games against a Sri Lanka Board Presidents XI in Katunayake on Saturday prior to the Tests, that will form portion of the ICC World Test Championship.

England won 3-0 in Sri Lanka two years ago but Root is expecting a tougher challenge this time around.

"The conditions will be a bit different with the time of year we 're going this time around," he said.

"The three games we played out there last time were all very close with less than 60 runs between the teams within the last two Tests.

"It was an exceptional performance last time and I believe we can take a large amount of confidence from that with regards to how exactly to play out there.

"We respect how good a side they are within their own conditions and we'll find ourselves up against a stiff challenge."

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