The 2020 County Cricket Season (and effect of Coronavirus)

It's impossible to do any definitive planning at the moment, because we have no idea how long the virus epidemic is going to last. Any planning requires an assumption about the the number of weeks available for the season.

I'm guessing that the outlook might be reviewed every month, until we reach the point where we have some certainty as to the playing weeks available. Then some decisions could be made. Personally, I fear we will have no meaningful season at all.

If we have to salvage just one competition, that has to be the T20 Blast; all counties are involved, and it's the biggest moneyspinner. 

The Championship is likely to be so truncated as to be meaningless. The 50 over game could be more easily scheduled into a short one or two month season, so it may take precedence over a decimated CC.

Clubs will need to assess how they are going to justify not refunding some (or all) of the membership fees. This may determine which competitions take priority.

The 100 is way down the pecking order, I'm pleased to say. It would only be played at 8 venues, without any county identification, and will be of little or no interest to cricket fans. 

I'm sure there are lots of other factors, but I'll pause there for the moment! 

Given all the unknowns, might, could, may be, possibly, potential, can etc. we 'can' only guess, but if you turn to the media the usual worst scenarios, as expected, are already beginning.

This is from the Daily Mail yesterday.

www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/cricket/article-8118997/Cricket-hit-six-coronavirus-pandemic-leaves-county-clubs-cash-black-hole.html

Phrases like (County cricket is facing a) "Cash black hole" and from an unnamed source, "Some counties are on a knife-edge" are rife in this Wisden Editor Lawrence Booth piece. A few ironies too. Why is the wealthiest county club leading this charge, given they have the largest cash reserves of any county; and why have Surrey only sold 25% of their T20 tickets when smaller clubs like Sussex and others are already talking of sell-out games? Is it because Surrey have 25,000 tickets to sell compared to Hove's 6,500?

In this light, Sussex are in a strong position as the club have no debt and therefore not requiring to pay off 'X amount' each month to their debtors. I agree with the Surrey CEO that, "Our focus is on trying to make sure we get through the next short-term period," yet how many Clubs make any money from those early Championship games? Few if any. The key is the T20 tournament. That must go ahead for county cricket survival. Also, with all the ££billions promised by the Government to boost the economy, surely some of that will seep down to sport and cricket.

I still feel optimistic that come early May, the coronavirus will have reached its peak worldwide and be quickly receding as has occurred already in China. Another positive thing for cricket is that the football summer Euro 2020 has been postponed, so cricket won't be dominated by that, which can only help.

Agree 100% with this post on a cricket messageboard:

"Anyone likely to die from it is just as likely to catch it from somewhere else. We've become paranoid. We can't do anything in case something goes wrong. Isolation has all sorts of other implications for mental health. People will end up leading miserable joyless lives in an attempt to avoid the slightest risk to their health. Life won't be worth living the way we're going. Right now I can't even buy the basic ingredients for simple meals in the biggest conurbation in one of the wealthiest nations on the planet. I'm literally losing the will to live."

"Right now I can't even buy the basic ingredients for simple meals in the biggest conurbation in one of the wealthiest nations on the planet."

This is mainly due to people buying far more than they require

"this is the biggest threat and disruption to life here (& abroad) since the Spanish Flu outbreak of 1918-19"

Wasn't WW2 a bit disruptive?

Yes, but also no! WW2 was clearly disruptive in terms of food & clothes (rationing), direction of individual (conscription) and threat (bombs!), but after the panic of the phoney war (Sept.1939-May 1940) the theatres, cinemas, music halls, cafes/restaurants/pubs etc re-opened. You were as likely to be bombed at home as there (& there were air raid shelters etc to protect one - nothing similar can be found vs Covid-19!). WW2 also lasted for nearly 6 years - perhaps not unexpectedly life in many ways carried on almost as usual, and diaries/accounts of the time make this clear.


Coincidentally I am currently publishing my late Aunt's diary from 1939-45, with each diary entry being tweeted 80 years to the day from the day they were written, along with a blog where some context is given to each diary entry.



What is interesting (well, to me at least!) is how my Aunt, a single woman who pre-war worked as a nanny and later a matron in boarding schools, carried very much on with her life as usual - both before and after she joined up to serve in the ATS. Today's diary entry, for example, reads:






And on the accompanying blog, I point out:




Would that we all could 'Escape to Happiness' at the moment!!



However my point in mentioning this is to say that cinemas, theatres, ENSA, even touring holidays (by bus & hitching) all carried on and are mentioned by my Aunt. But the threat was, for her, mainly German bombs (and later the V1 & V2) NOT a disease.


PS If anyone is bored in self-isolation and wants to look at my Aunt's diary, it can be found on Twitter at twitter.com/AuntWar and the blog is at

auntpamelaswar.home.blog/



Feel free to take a look! 

You are most kind!

There is a 10 day gap now (she must have been busy!), but I will be reposting some pieces about her childhood she left in an old exercise book I only found a few months ago during this gap!

NB If you 'follow' the blog, you should get an announcement of each new post when it happens. And if you 'do' Twitter, you can follow the diary entries as they are published at  twitter.com/AuntWar