T20 World Cup Decision in July

Decision on T20WC reschedule will not be made until July.

London Daily Telegraph.

Friday, 24 April 2020.

PTG 3096-15319.

Any decision on whether the Twenty20 World Cup (T20WC) has to be rescheduled from its October start date due to the Covid-19 pandemic will not be made until July, New Zealand Cricket (NZC) board chief David White has said.  The International Cricket Council discuss contingency plans for the tournament in Australia, as well as ways of restarting the sport once the pandemic subsides, during a conference call gathering on Thursday but White said before hand "no decisions will be made”.

That meeting agreed that international cricket’s disrupted Future Tours Program will need to be collectively reviewed through to 2023 with a view to rescheduling as much of the cricket that has been postponed due to Covid-19 as possible.  Also agreed was that "discussions and decisions" on the future of both the World Test Championship and the Men’s World Cup Super League will be "held at a later date when there is a greater understanding of the impact of the cricket that has been lost on the competitions”. Contingency planning for the men’s T20WC in October-November and the women's World Cup in New Zealand next February “were reviewed” during the meeting.

Travel restrictions and border controls aimed at containing the spread of the coronavirus have brought sport to a standstill around the world and left many events scheduled for later in the year in doubt.  "Cricket Australia [CA] is working very closely with the government authorities and they are planning for it (T20 World Cup) to go ahead in October and November”, White said. "There's contingency planning going on and lots of discussions but no decisions will be made. If decisions are made ... it will be in July”.

Cricket Australia chief executive Kevin Roberts said on Tuesday the board was still hopeful of an October start but conceded the international schedule remained up in the air.  Pushing the T20 event back to February as suggested by one report (PTG 3094-15307, 23 April 2020), would see it clash with the one-day women's World Cup, scheduled to start in New Zealand the same month.  White said changing the schedule of the women's event was "not on the agenda".

Strict lockdown measures in Australia and New Zealand have seen coronavirus infection rates plunge in recent weeks, raising hopes sports might be able to resume some level of competition.  Australia's rugby union federation said this week it was looking at scheduling matches with New Zealand teams in Super Rugby if the countries eased travel restrictions.

White said NZC would be open to similar proposals for a summer cricket series against Australia, if practicable.  "We've all got to be open minded about planning going forward, it's only April”, he said. "We've got to work together, we've got to be flexible ... so we can accommodate these events”.  He also confirmed the New Zealand men team's tour of the Netherlands in June had been called off and subsequent tours to Britain and the West Indies later than month and in July were "highly doubtful” (PTG 3073-15215, 4 April 2020).

On Tuesday, the government of the Netherlands extended a ban on major public events, including professional sports and music festivals, until the start of September to prevent a resurgence of coronavirus infections.  New Zealand were to play a Twenty20 match in Rotterdam in mid-June, their first tour to the nation in over 30 years, but Dutch officials had said it was "not possible", White said.

MCC laws manager for on-line ‘Ask Me Anything’ session.

PTG Editor.

Thursday, 23 April 2020.

PTG 3095-15312.

Fraser Stewart, the Marylebone Cricket Club’s (MCC) Laws Manager, will be conducting an 'Ask Me Anything’ session on anything related to the game’s Laws on the Reddit network at 4 pm UK time on Thursday afternoon (11 am in eastern United States, 1 am Friday in eastern Australia).  Stewart’s role at the MCC involves working closely with the club’s Laws sub-committee, monitoring the on-going game in terms of Laws issues, re-drafting the Laws when changes are agreed to, and producing educational materials of various kinds, including the preparation and publication of ‘Tom Smith’, the match officials ‘bible’.

As the likes of Strauss and Harrison take much of their research from Mumsnet, here is a summary of the rules to dealing with Coronavirus and why there isn't a round of Championship games starting today from that forum.

As we enter the next three weeks of lockdown here is a summary of the advice:

1. You MUST NOT leave the house for any reason, but if you have a reason, you can leave the house.

2. Masks are useless at protecting you against the virus, but you may have to wear one because it can save lives, but they may not work, but they may be mandatory, but maybe not.

3. Shops are closed, except those shops that are open.

4. You must not go to work but you can get another job and go to work.

5. You should not go to the doctor or to the hospital unless you have to go there, unless you are too poorly to go there.

6. This virus can kill people, but don’t be scared of it. It can only kill those people who are vulnerable or those people who are not vulnerable people. It’s possible to contain and control it, sometimes, except that sometimes it actually leads to a global disaster.

7. Gloves won't help, but they can still help, so wear them sometimes, or not.

8. STAY HOME, but it's important to go out.

9. There is no shortage of groceries in the supermarkets, but there are many things missing. Sometimes you won’t need loo rolls, but you should buy some just in case you need some.

10. The virus has no effect on children except those children it affects.

11. Animals are not affected, but there is still a cat that tested positive in Belgium in February when no one had been tested, plus a few tigers here and there…

12. Stay 2 metres away from tigers (see point 11).

13. You will have many symptoms if you get the virus, but you can also get symptoms without getting the virus, get the virus without having any symptoms or be contagious without having symptoms, or be non-contagious with symptoms...

14. To help protect yourself you should eat well and exercise, but eat whatever you have on hand as it's better not to go out shopping.

15. It's important to get fresh air but don't go to parks, but go for a walk. But don’t sit down, except if you are old, but not for too long or if you are pregnant or if you’re not old or pregnant but need to sit down. If you do sit down don’t eat your picnic.

16. Don’t visit old people but you have to take care of the old people and bring them food and medication.

17. If you are sick, you can go out when you are better, but anyone else in your household can’t go out when you are better unless they need to go out.

18. You can get restaurant food delivered to the house. These deliveries are safe. But groceries you bring back to your house have to be decontaminated outside for 3 hours including pizza...

19. You can't see your older mother or grandmother, but they can take a taxi and meet an older taxi driver.

20. You are safe if you maintain the safe social distance when out but you can’t go out with friends or strangers at the safe social distance.

21. The virus remains active on different surfaces for two hours ... or four hours... six hours... I mean days, not hours... But it needs a damp environment. Or a cold environment that is warm and dry... in the air, as long as the air is not plastic.

22. Schools are closed so you need to home educate your children, unless you can send them to school because you’re not at home. If you are at home you can home educate your children using various portals and virtual classrooms, unless you have poor internet, or more than one child and only one computer, or you are working from home. Baking cakes can be considered maths, science or art. If you are home educating you can include household chores to be education. If you are home educating you can start drinking at 10 am.

23. If you are not home educating children you can also start drinking at 10 am.

24. The number of corona related deaths will be announced daily but we don't know how many people are infected as they are only testing those who are almost dead to find out if that's what they will die of… the people who die of corona who aren’t counted won’t be counted.

25. You should stay in locked down until the virus stops infecting people, but it will only stop infecting people if we all get infected so it’s important we get infected and some don’t get infected.

26. You can join your neighbours for a street party and turn your music up for an outside disco and your neighbours won’t call the police. People in another street are allowed to call the police about your music.

27. No business will go under due to coronavirus except those businesses that will have already gone under.