We were all disappointed with the Government’s announcements to the proposal for the return of cricket on Tuesday.
Despite this, ECB remain positive and are keen to see the safe return of cricket within recreational clubs soon. We have been assured by ECB that they are working hard with Government to make this possible. At yesterday’s ECB update we were told that ECB’s CEO Tom Harrison was in a meeting with the Sports Minister Nigel Huddleston, which is a very positive sign.
ECB are committed to fighting cricket’s corner as they believe that it can come back safely, and their strong desire is to see the return of recreational cricket on or around 4 July.
So it looks like we will need to be patient for a little while longer, but we are hoping to move into phase 4 of adapted play in early July.
With this in mind, we continue to encourage clubs to get ready for a return to cricket – this may be in an adapted form of the game, but we aren’t sure yet.
To remind you, some of the preparations you can undertake are as follows:
- being open for practice in line with ECB guidelines for groups of 6 households (5 plus 1 coach if appropriate)
- make contact with all your players, junior and senior to confirm their participation
- ground staff preparing their squares by cutting to a normal summer height – please refer to the Grounds Management Association’s (previously Institute of Groundsmanship) Guidance for Interim Works and Fit for Play in Cricket
- staying close to Durham Cricket Board and ECB communications
- and flagging up any concerns we may help with
Durham Cricket Board are committed to supporting clubs and we ask representatives to get in touch with any concerns they may have at this point.
Any further updates will be communicated through as soon as available.
Keep safe and keep positive.
Bob Jackson
Chairman
Durham Cricket Board