Ben Stokes has been withdrawn from England's tour match in Sri Lanka due to an abdominal issue which team management insist is unrelated to Coronavirus concerns.

STUART BROAD: It was quite an eerie feeling on Friday when Joe Root addressed us to let us know that the tour of Sri Lanka was off. We felt quite a long way from the levels of worry in England.

DAVID LLOYD IN HIS GARDEN: I thought I would be spending my 73rd birthday in Galle preparing for England's first Test against Sri Lanka but, instead, I find myself self-isolating at home.

Nottinghamshire continued pre-season preparations unabated, as Alex Hales self-isolates since returning from the Pakistan Super League.

England's cricketers would not play any rescheduled Test series against West Indies in the Caribbean until December at the earliest, it has emerged.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW BY PAUL NEWMAN: Expectations of Dan Lawrence were always likely to be great once he had scored a century in his second Championship appearance.

DAVID LLOYD: It's all pretty surreal now, isn't it? Things have certainly moved on apace since last we spoke and I just hope everyone is staying well and doing the right thing.

Not only is the 37-year-old fully fit after the broken rib that curtailed his tour of South Africa but he wants to ensure he makes the very most of what remains of his record-breaking career.

As a cricketer in the public eye, I have to be vigilant. Without wanting to sound too dramatic, I know that, if I get the virus, I could bring down the whole of the Sussex or England teams.

The ECB are soon to outline details of the financial support package they will offer counties who will hit problems because the start of the domestic season has been delayed due to coronavirus.

Jos Buttler, reaching out, almost at full stretch. Where have we seen that before? It is an image carved into the memory of every sports fan in the country. 

Following the ball-tampering scandal of March 2018, Cricket Australia handed Smith a 12-month suspension adding he would not be considered for captaincy for another year after that.

England's star cricketers have been nonplussed by reports that they will be expected to take pay cuts of up to £200,000 as the game repositions its finances because of the coronavirus crisis.

Joe Root has issued a warning about player burnout this winter as England's cricketers face a fixture pile-up caused by the coronavirus outbreak.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW BY PAUL NEWMAN: Ben Foakes has revealed the 'mental burn-out' that led to him losing his passion for cricket - before an extended break saw 'the fire come back'.

Professional Cricketers' Association remain resistant to pay cuts for their membership as counties seek to lessen the financial burdens pressed upon them by the coronavirus crisis.

The Test side could face West Indies or Pakistan, this season's proposed red-ball opponents, while Eoin Morgan's white-ball World Cup winners face Australia, who are currently due here in July

EOIN MORGAN: As we took the field to defend 15 in the super over in the World Cup final last summer, Jos Buttler told me he hoped I had a couple of shamrocks in my pocket.

LAWRENCE BOOTH: Words were not enough, but the captains tried anyway. 'Extraordinary,' said Morgan. 'Gutted,' said Williamson. More or less everyone else was left speechless.

EXCLUSIVE BY MATT HUGHES: County cricketers could be asked to play six days-a-week if a truncated season is permitted later this summer.

PAUL ALLOTT: Bob would have been the last person to think of himself as an all-action hero, but it described my old friend better than he ever knew.

Sir Andrew Strauss has admitted to mistakes in the way he handled Kevin Pietersen during the dispute that was to ultimately tear one of the best of all England teams apart.

PAUL NEWMAN: If cricket returns this summer, one key proposal by the ECB is for the Test and white-ball sides to play at the same time to enable as much action as possible to take place. 

RICHARD GIBSON: The 31-year-old represents another arrival straight from his country's Test team, having featured in their most recent match, England's series-clinching victory in Johannesburg.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: England batsman Joe Denly admits his nerves almost got the better of him during this winter's tour to South Africa when he presented Zak Crawley with his first cap.

Ben Stokes, the hero of England's dramatic World Cup triumph and the miracle of Headingley last summer, has been named the leading cricketer in the world.

COMMENT BY LAWRENCE BOOTH: In the editor's notes in this year's Wisden I suggested the English game has a problem with unconscious bias - which is not the same as overt racism.

Wisden is published on Thursday for the 157th time. It is full of joy, and staring into the abyss. The Almanack's arrival usually coincides with a spring in cricket's step. But this year, not so much.

The ECB are considering a re-draft of players if they postpone the Hundred for 12 months - due to changes in status of Kolpak cricketers and the availability of overseas stars.

Ashley Giles says England's players will have 'no excuses' for not being fully fit to start a truncated cricket season he still believes can take place later this summer.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW BY TIM RICH: Ian Gould has just been walking on the seafront at Hove. It is eerie; empty. He retired as an international umpire after 13 years following last summer's World Cup.

Joe Root believes David Warner was better behaved in the last Ashes series than the previous one. The Australian batsman is known to be a lively character and Root thought he was calmer.

With no cricket to fill the live schedules as a result of the coronavirus lockdown, Ben Stokes rewatched his 'miracle of Headlingley' for the first time with his epic 135 not out performance.

Coco Cuhna made the mistake of suggesting to her cricket coach boyfriend that it might be fun to see if he could show her how to bat when she saw him whacking a few tennis balls into a net.

The dream of becoming the first brothers to play Test cricket together for England since the Hollioakes is sustaining Tom and Sam Curran as they endure being apart during lockdown.

EXCLUSIVE BY DAVID COVERDALE: Eight months on and the noise of that unforgiving Edgbaston crowd is still ringing in Cameron Bancroft's ears. 'It was loud, it was intimidating.'

EXCLUSIVE: The ECB are preparing to postpone England's Test series against West Indies, put back the Twenty20 Blast until later in the summer and cancel the inaugural Hundred.

Sportsmail columnists Nasser Hussain and David Lloyd answer your questions including who were the hardest batsmen to plan for and will England lift the T20 World Cup?

LAWRENCE BOOTH: Rashid will turn 35 during the next World Cup in 2023 but with the tournament set for the spin-friendly pitches of India, he says he'd love to be involved.

Can you guess the England cricket star who posted a throwback picture of himself alongside his sister on Instagram? He's wearing his first Nottingham Forest shirt in the photo.

EXCLUSIVE BY DAVID COVERDALE: Eoin Morgan's side are scheduled to face the Aussies in three Twenty20s and three one-day internationals from July 3-16.

EXCLUSIVE: Ian Watmore quit his leading Football League role in November 2018 citing poor health. But it can be revealed a week earlier the EFL had commissioned an independent inquiry.

EXCLUSIVE BY PAUL NEWMAN: Cricket's biggest counties are most in danger of collapsing under the financial pressure of the coronavirus pandemic, claims Richard Thompson.

The ECB have been given a free run at reorganising their international summer plans after West Indies prioritised their three Tests in England over home series against New Zealand and South Africa.

Twenty20 record breaker Chris Gayle has signed for St Lucia Zouks for the 2020 Caribbean Premier League.

Almost the whole squad were stricken by two sickness bugs, the first a type of flu and the second a stomach problem, that weakened England in their heavy first Test defeat over Christmas.

There are fears that the current restrictions put in place by their federal government preventing Australians flying abroad in all but essential circumstances will last into final quarter of this year.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW BY PAUL NEWMAN: Luke Sutton is looking back on the chance meeting almost nine years ago with his old Lancashire captain that quite possibly saved his life.

EXCLUSIVE BY MATT HUGHES: Sportsmail has learned that the ECB are insured for the value of all tickets sold up until April 1 if the Tests do not take place as planned.

Sportsmail revealed in November that assistant coach Paul Collingwood had already been earmarked to take charge of the one-day home series against Ireland, scheduled for September.