ECB recommends suspension of all recreational cricket

Hello to everyone in the Cheshire cricket fraternity and I hope you and your families are safe and well.

At this time I would normally be sending you a Dazzler newsletter with details of the forthcoming season. However, external events have taken over, and as you may now be aware, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) have recommended the suspension of all recreational cricket in England and Wales as a result of the coronavirus outbreak.

This news was circulated by Cheshire Women's Cricket League (CWCL) secretary Caroline Sheridan this morning and was sent to all main representatives of League clubs.

The ECB advice covers "training (whether indoor or outdoor), pre-season friendlies and any associated cricket activity" in addition to competitive matches.

While the actual act of playing a cricket match out of doors carries a relatively low risk of a virus being transmitted, recreational cricket includes a number of scenarios where players and officials might be in close contact indoors, such as changing rooms, general areas of pavilions and clubhouses and cars used for transport to matches.

The CWCL will continue to monitor ECB guidance, but unlike some other sports, there is no target date for a resumption of cricket activities. Hence the restriction has to apply until further notice.

The CWCL is not now going ahead with its Captains' Briefing and Executive Committee Meeting which were scheduled for Wednesday March 25. Whenever the ECB agrees that cricket can re-commence, we will then need to carry out the usual pre-season briefing, although how this will be delivered will depend on what the Government advice is at that time.

The ECB statement includes the following, although at present it is not clear what their intentions are in this area:

“Sport plays an absolutely vital role in the nation’s mental and physical wellbeing, and it helps people find meaning where there is fear and uncertainty, so one of our goals in the coming weeks will be to explore ways that we can support some levels of physical activity in communities - particularly at junior levels."

The full ECB news release