Nottinghamshire Members' Forum I 2020

here is the club's summary 

On Tuesday 16 June, Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club hosted an online members’ forum with over 200 in attendance.

A combination of pre-submitted and live questions were posed to a panel that included Chairman Richard Tennant, Chief Executive Lisa Pursehouse, Director of Cricket Mick Newell and Head Coach Peter Moores.

Club Captain Steven Mullaney and Notts mainstay Luke Fletcher also shared their views on lockdown and the prospects of getting back on the field as soon as it is safe to do so.

A video summary of the forum is available above. A written account of the key questions and answers is outlined below.

Prospects of play in 2020

“We’re all hoping to get some cricket away and we’re working really hard to make that happen,” said Lisa.

"We’re trying to start all levels of the game in the most difficult of circumstances.

“We need to get international cricket up and running, to keep the revenue it brings into the game, because that’s what will underpin domestic cricket, the recreational game and everything we do.”

Director of Cricket Mick Newell expanded on the desire of all at the club to play this summer, and outlined some of the measures being put in place to bring this closer to reality.

"We want to be playing from August,” he confirmed. “It’s still to be confirmed, but we could find ourselves playing all three formats.

"The ECB are working on potential schedules now, but there are a lot of things to consider, in terms of the use of changing rooms, how many people can be in the venue on a matchday, indoor workspace for matchday staff… lots of conversations need to take place, but we as a club are committed to exploring all the possibilities of playing.

“James Pipe (physio) and John Gorman (facilities manager) have done an awful lot of work to allow international training to take place at Trent Bridge (with Stuart Broad and Joe Root). We hope that when we can get back to training, that planning will help us get up and running quickly.

“As far as we’re concerned, any format of the game is a good format to be playing; we just want to get going.”

Approach to county cricket once it resumes

"It’s a fine balance in pro sport between development and winning, but we’ll want to win," Peter confirmed.

"Focussing on performance and on developing an edge on opponents is what professional sport is about. Doing that will help us be successful, not just this season, but in future years as well.

“Ideally, we’d like to be able to play a mix of red and white-ball cricket. The players committed a huge amount of time this winter to the red-ball game, and I’d love them to be able to show how they’ve moved on.

"To go out and beat sides, and lay down a marker in the red-ball game, would be fantastic.”

Addressing the financial impact of COVID-19

“All the measures we’ve taken have been in line with ECB and government advice,” said Richard.

“The ECB were swift in offering support to help sustain our cashflow and we will continue to discuss the level of funding that will be available for the rest of the year.

“Longer-term, as with all sports and businesses, we will have to take a fresh look at our plans in light of the effects of the pandemic.

“There will be some difficult decisions ahead, and we are in little doubt that some areas of the club will see changes, but we are confident that the actions we take will secure the future of the club.”

2020 membership subscriptions

Members were informed that a definitive policy will be communicated once there is clarity regarding the length and structure of the season.

That policy could include members being offered refunds on 2020 subscriptions, but being asked and encouraged to donate in order to assist the club’s recovery from the financial distress caused by an enforced shutdown.

“Every county is different, but the generosity of our members, supporters and partners will make the biggest difference to the speed of our recovery.

Prospects of major match cricket at Trent Bridge

“We’ve always been really hopeful of getting our international cricket played at Trent Bridge because our games are scheduled for later in the year,” commented Lisa.

“We are aware now that it’s looking very difficult. We’re still hopeful, but it’s starting to become less likely.

“From our conversations with the ECB, we think we’ll probably have a clearer picture by the end of June.

“To give reassurance to members and supporters who have bought tickets for those matches, they will be entitled to a refund if the games aren’t played at Trent Bridge. They don’t need to do anything yet. We will be in touch with all of that information.

“The other thing to say is that the Royal London Cup Final is due to take place at Trent Bridge in September. Maybe there will still be a chance of that happening?

“It all moves really quickly, but we’re hanging in there and staying hopeful.”

https://www.trentbridge.co.uk/news/2020/june/in-summary-16-june-online-members-forum.html?utm_source=Dotdigital&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=&utm_customersegment=&utm_content=club09/06/2020

Would you:

a) be happy with watching all your cricket behind closed doors
b) be happy to have none of your membership money reimburshed?

How much would it cost for Notts to unfurlough their players and play in front of an empty ground for two months?

Would members goodwill be lost if they attempted to do so?

Dear Member

I am writing to provide a further update in relation to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our club, and to extend an invitation for you to join us for a virtual members’ forum.

As you will be aware, we were recently informed by the England and Wales Cricket Board that there will be a further delay to the start of the county season, with no domestic cricket to be played before 1 August.

When we took the decision on 23 March to close Trent Bridge in line with government guidance, we had hoped for a degree of recovery in time for us to stage many of our originally scheduled fixtures in the County Championship, Royal London Cup and Vitality Blast, to launch The Hundred and to welcome international teams for our high-profile matches.

Trent Bridge has now been closed for more than two months and we still do not know when we can return to anything resembling business as usual. However, we do know that The Hundred has been postponed, that domestic cricket will not be played until August and that the hosting of our scheduled major matches could be affected.

At the time of writing, we remain hopeful, given the timing of our England versus Pakistan Test Match in August and the scheduling of both our One-Day International and the Royal London Cup Final in September, that they will still be held at Trent Bridge as planned.

However, this is a fast-moving situation and we are also realistic enough to acknowledge that this may not be possible.

Well-attended matches at Trent Bridge are our lifeblood and any cancelled, postponed or delayed fixtures have far-reaching consequences for the club.

We are all desperate to get games on later in the summer for our players, members and supporters if we possibly can. There is a willingness to do whatever it takes to achieve that, with a huge amount of work going on behind the scenes alongside the ECB and the PCA in preparation for a resumption.

We are thankful for everybody’s patience and understanding and will continue to provide further information as soon as we can.

For their part, the ECB are navigating significant challenges while trying to protect the long-term future of the professional and recreational game.

You may have read about elements of their plan to ensure that touring nations, starting with the West Indies behind closed doors, are able to fulfil a revised schedule during our summer.

Cricket of this nature, in bio-secure environments and with social distancing maintained, is a complicated exercise and one that requires significant commitment from all parties to make it work. We are fully supportive of everyone’s endeavours in this regard.

Getting international cricket played at the earliest possible opportunity will enable us to provide reassurance to the government that cricket can work together to achieve the necessary standards.

This will be a critical first step on the road to getting domestic cricket underway. Understanding how the operational and medical protocols need to be implemented at Trent Bridge is something we are progressing and are fully committed to.

Recreational cricket, meanwhile, remains suspended until further notice, with the sole exception of regulated use of outdoor facilities for the purposes of undertaking exercise.

With some schools now starting to embark on the process of re-opening, the ECB are working with the government to establish whether junior cricket, in some form, can be prioritised – something that, if it can be achieved, would be a welcome development for us all.

There has been considerable debate and speculation – much of it played out in the public domain – but there still remains a lack of certainty on many key issues. We continue to look at all scenarios that may play out and how they will impact the club in the short and medium term. There is a great deal to consider.

As many of you will be familiar, on two occasions during the course of each county season, you are invited to a members’ forum at Trent Bridge.

These traditionally well-attended events tend to take place in the Derek Randall Suite during the lunch interval of a County Championship matchday.

With technology allowing us to host such an event remotely online, a forum has now been scheduled to take place on the evening of Tuesday 16 June using the video conferencing software, Zoom.

It will be staged from 5pm to 6pm with our Chairman Richard Tennant, Director of Cricket Mick Newell, Head Coach Peter Moores and myself all available to answer your questions.

In order to log in to the forum, members will require a weblink and a password. We will provide this information by email prior to the event.

Up to 500 people can login at any one time and – in a change from normal procedure, caused by the move to digital – members are asked to submit questions in advance here.

As many of the questions received as possible will then be put to the panel by the club’s Commercial Director, Michael Temple, who will host the event. Please note that questions can be submitted until 10pm on Monday 15 June, the day before the forum.

To allow for easy communication and mitigate against possible background noise, all attendees will be muted with the exception of the host and the panel. However, any questions or contributions that come up during the event can be directed to the chat facility in Zoom. These will be seen by the host and used during the forum as follow-up questions if time allows.

We acknowledge that not all members will have access to the technology or be comfortable in using this method of communication, but holding the forum remotely is the only option in the current circumstances. However, we will write up a summary of the event and circulate it to members in a subsequent newsletter.

Should you wish to contact the club separately to the forum, as we are operating a skeleton staff working from home, it would assist us greatly if you could use the email address questions@nottsccc.co.uk in the first instance wherever possible. We will respond as quickly and with as much information as we can.

We will, meanwhile, continue in our endeavours to communicate with members regularly by email and to provide a consistent supply of content via our website and social media channels.

Thank you for your continued support as we all wait patiently for cricket’s return.

Kind regards,

Lisa Pursehouse

Chief Executive