England ace Sibley adopting cautious approach ahead of hopeful international return

Dom Sibley has always been a cautious batsman and it is a trait that stretches into his outlook on life.

The England opener, who struggled for runs on this winter's tour of India, is currently treating a broken finger that has put a roadblock in his plans for a strong start to the English summer.

The fact that the injury came on the day Sibley was named Wisden Cricketer of the Year for 2020 was particularly cruel for the 25-year-old.

"It's getting a little bit better," said Sibley, speaking on behalf of the Lord's Taverners who have announced a game changing £2m partnership with the ECB for the Super1s disability cricket programme.

"It's a bit frustrating but hopefully in the next couple of weeks I'll be back training, or in the next week or so. Touch wood it heals well.

"With a fracture it's four to six weeks so we'll play it by ear in the next couple of weeks to see if I feel up to playing. But I suppose it's down to me to see how it reacts when I get into a net.

"It's one of those things, because you can walk around and go running, you think 'I should be playing cricket' but it's pretty sore at the moment.

"The Wisden award got announced on the day I broke my finger. It started off well and in the dressing room at Trent Bridge I had a bottle of champagne sent to me from someone and by the end of the day I was in the hospital having an x-ray, so it was a bit of a rollercoaster of a day."

The injury means that Sibley has been denied the chance to pile on some runs for Warwickshire after an India tour which saw him manage just 31 runs in the last three Tests of the 3-1 series defeat.

Those struggles leave him in a vulnerable position within the England set-up, albeit every batsman struggled on the turning wickets.

So while England will play Tests against New Zealand and India this summer, Sibley's focus is simply on getting back for Warwickshire and getting among the runs once more.

He added: "From a personal point of view it was a great experience in India, obviously a very tough experience as well. There are lots of learnings from it and hopefully in the future I'll be better off dealing with those conditions wherever that may be.

"I think that is (the toughest I've faced). Speaking to a lot of guys and people who have played at that level in the past as well, they said they have not seen conditions as tough as that.

"I'm not looking too far ahead, I don't want to get too excited with the finger injury, I'd probably just want to try and get back playing for Warwickshire as soon as possible and scoring runs.

"Whatever comes from that, comes from that. I try not to look too far ahead and excited about anything because nothing is a given. I'm just focusing on getting fit and getting back out on the park with Warwickshire."

For more information about the life changing Super1s disability cricket programme and the work of the Lord's Taverners, please visit lordstaverners.org