Trevor Bayliss will continue to monitor his England players carefully with the aim of preventing burnout during a hectic schedule.
The first of the summer's two Test series opens on Thursday when South Africa visit Lord's for the start of a four-game rubber, with a further three matches scheduled against the West Indies.
The fixtures come having completed seven Tests against Bangladesh and India last winter and before the visit to Australia later in the year to resume Ashes hostilities.
“I’ll put it this way, there is a lot of cricket. Since I’ve been here we have had to give guys a rest because of that,” Bayliss said.
“I think we gave Joe Root and Ben Stokes a rest during the one-day series against Australia a couple of years ago. Jos Buttler as well. There is a lot of cricket.
“From May 5 earlier this year, there were something like 20 or 21 months out of the next 23 where there are matches on. So there’s an awful lot of cricket.
“There’s an ongoing communication with the players about it. The tell-tale sign (of burn out) is obviously if they’re not scoring as well or not bowling as well.
“Some guys withdraw a little bit within the dressing room environment. Those types of things start to happen and then you’re having a chat and you realise maybe them having a little bit of time off might do them the world of good.”
Bayliss admits injury is inevitable if players are exposed to such challenging schedules.
“We have just played seven Test in about 10 weeks on the subcontinent and a lot of Test match cricket in a short space of time can play havoc with guys with niggles,” Bayliss said.
“You haven’t got time to get over any niggles especially after you have played two or three games in a row and you have still got another four to go so depth is important.
“Injury-wise I would be surprised if there weren’t some injuries and niggles over seven Tests in a short space of time.”
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