England coach Andy Flower has confirmed that some of the side’s influential players will be rested at stages throughout the summer to ensure they are fighting fit for the Ashes series (England 3/1 Australia 8/15, draw 9/2 Test Series Beting) this coming winter.

Flower is well aware that the recent stars of the ICC Twenty20 World Cup win in the West Indies, such as Stuart Broad, Paul Collingwood and Graeme Swann, have played virtually non-stop for the past 12 months.

And they are set to be thrown back into the action next week when the two-Test series against Bangladesh (England 2-0 1/5 Correct Score) gets underway, before facing Pakistan later in the summer and then heading off to battle with Australia for the Ashes.

There are also one-day and Twenty20 internationals dotted around between the Test matches and Flower has conceded that none of his players can be expected to feature in every single match.

“We have a very busy 12 months ahead of us and we are going to have to rest players at various times,” he said.

“In certain situations it is possible that we will have to rest some players either for emotional reasons such as stress and sometimes it will be for strength and conditioning reasons.

“With our schedule it will be hard to fit enough strength and conditioning in.”