Odds against resumption grow but Yorkshire CCC chief Martyn Moxon staying positive

The Yorkshire director of cricket acknowledges that there are myriad factors that would need to be satisfied to ensure a safe return in the wake of the pandemic.

The England and Wales Cricket Board has announced that there will be no professional cricket until at least July 1.

Some fear that there will be no county cricket at all this summer, but Moxon said: “I suppose there’s always the risk, but we’re very hopeful that we will see some play.

“There’s lots of chats going on at the minute as to what kind of things would have to be in place and, on the face of it, it’s a significant logistical challenge.

“Practice is clearly going to be easier than matches; you can easily do practice in small groups and keep six feet apart, and so on, so you’d like to think that that’s achievable, but then when you get to the matches it becomes a lot more complicated.

“That’s what’s being discussed and worked on at the minute – basically, how do you keep this bio-safety environment for a competitive game?”

On the face of it, “bio-safety” would seem to be much easier to achieve in international cricket than in the county game.

International matches could be confined to just a couple of grounds, with sizeable on-site hotels such as Old Trafford and the Ageas Bowl to cater for the various individuals, whereas there are 18 first-class counties and multiple venues.

Testing for coronavirus would surely have to form part of any bio-safety policy, and sport could hardly be prioritised ahead of testing society’s key workers and the elderly/vulnerable.

There is also the question of what would happen if someone developed symptoms in the middle of a match; the idea of “Covid-19” substitutes has even been mooted to ensure that ongoing games would not have to be abandoned.

The difficulties are multifarious – not to say mind-boggling – and Moxon ruminated: “Would our medical staff need to have protective equipment? What kind of testing would there be? What happens if someone shows symptoms? There’s all those practical kinds of what-ifs that need to be discussed and decided upon.

“When we’re all back together (players and staff), if someone does show symptoms, would the whole staff have to go into isolation for two weeks again, so that any games that you’re playing at that point just suddenly end? It’s very tricky.

“Also, when it comes to testing, the problem is that you can be negative one day and positive the next, so how often do you get tested to check you’re still negative?

“When you get into the detail, it’s very complicated, but there’s certainly a strong desire to get around these challenges and to get on as much cricket as we possibly can.”

By the time that July 1 ticks round, Yorkshire and their fellow counties will not have bowled a ball in anger for over nine months.

Should the entire season be lost, and assuming that matches are not somehow rescheduled overseas, that hiatus would be 18 months by the start of next April.

“It would certainly be a challenge in that worst-case scenario,” said Moxon.

“It would be tough for the players – not least mentally – if they didn’t have a season.

“But, at the moment, everyone’s hoping that isn’t the case and that we get on sooner rather than later.

“The players are all okay at the moment, touch wood, and we’re just hoping for that glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel.”

The next few days promise to be crucial, with the government likely to lay out a limited set of changes to the lockdown.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has promised “maximum transparency”, while Premier League football is edging closer to a return (albeit behind closed doors), perhaps as early as June 8.

“Realistically, if it’s a July 1 start-date for the cricket, then we’ve obviously got to have some time to prepare,” added Moxon.

“As I’ve said before, we’d need at least three-to-four weeks for that ideally, so we’d have to start training again by early June.

“We’re all just waiting for the next move, really, and when the government decides that the lockdown can be eased.

“Like the Prime Minister said, the fear is of another spike (in coronavirus cases), so we can only wait to see how it all pans out.”

The ECB has already said that it will prioritise international cricket and the T20 Blast in any revised schedule as that brings in the most money.

There are still hopes that some form of red-ball county cricket can be salvaged, although Moxon believes that promotion and relegation would be unrealistic in a significantly truncated County Championship.

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