Yorkshire CCC preparing to welcome back players in January ready for 2021 pre-season preparations

Yorkshire's players, seen at Headingley in July for this year's delayed pre-season training camp, are not expected to be back at the ground for next year's preparations until January at the earliest. Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com

The players had been due to return to Emerald Headingley later this month to undertake various fitness tests.

But with the country shut down until December 2, and with uncertainty regarding any possible extension, the players are not expected back until the New Year.

All players and staff are currently on flexi-furlough, with chancellor Rishi Sunak yesterday announcing that the government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme – which pays up to 80 per cent of an employee’s salary up to £2,500 a month – will continue until the end of March.

Yorkshire first-team coach Andrew Gale will probably not see his players back at Headingley until January. Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com

Mark Arthur, the Yorkshire chief executive, said: “The players won’t come back completely for training after the current lockdown.

“Before Christmas, any work they do will be elements of strength-and-conditioning, and then they would report back in the New Year.

“Everyone is currently on flexi-furlough, including those such as myself, who weren’t on furlough last time.

“The furlough scheme has now been extended to March, and we will look to use that facility as and when the business requires it.”

Yorkshire CCC chief executive, Mark Arthur. Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com

The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme has been a life-saver for many businesses and employees, with Yorkshire having taken advantage of it earlier in the year. Back then, senior figures such as Arthur and director of cricket Martyn Moxon continued manning the fort as cricket sought to navigate its way through an unprecedented challenge.

Thanks to the Herculean efforts of all, the counties and the staff and the England and Wales Cricket Board, a full international programme and a two-month county schedule were salvaged to mitigate crippling multi-million pound losses.

This, however, is a particularly fallow time of year, with uncertainty over the announcement of next summer’s fixtures and consequent inability for counties to sell tickets.

“There’s very little that we can do at the moment,” said Arthur. “The fixtures aren’t out yet, we can’t sell corporate packages, whereas six months ago we were hopeful of getting some cricket off the ground and we had to do strategic things like protocols for the ground and there were 14 of us at Yorkshire who were unable to go on furlough.

“This time we can use the flexi-furlough scheme because we’ve got absolutely no money coming into the club except for a bit through our retail operation, the online shop.

“The shop staff are also on flexi-furlough so that when there are orders to fulfil they fulfil them, and then they clock off.”

Yorkshire’s players kept themselves fit during the previous lockdown through their own running and cycling regimes at home.

Moxon and his fellow coaches were delighted with their efforts and the condition in which they returned to full-on training.

There will be the same expectation now as Yorkshire strive to hit the ground running in 2021 and end what would be a six-year wait for a trophy.

They hope to be strong challengers in the new-look County Championship, which will see the 18 first-class counties split into three new conferences of six, and to compete strongly in the white-ball formats too.

The conference system is being trialled in 2021 and, if successful, could become permanent.

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