Age Bowling Limits...

Age bowling limits, innings length caps, for Willis trophy.
Ali Martin.
The Guardian.
Wednesday, 15 July 2020.
PTG 3194-15810.

Bowlers in this year’s truncated county season look set to have their overs capped and the new ball delayed under guidelines designed to counter the threat of injury and, in particular, stress fractures to the lower back.  Counties have been warned that returning to four-day cricket without eight to twelve weeks of preparation poses a “significant” risk and could leave them open to litigation from injured players.

Counties will play five Bob Willis Trophy matches each within three regional groups of six, culminating in a possible Lord’s final for the two teams with the most points . Games are expected to have first-class status after a proposal to make it 12-a-side – beyond permitted concussion and Covid-19 rplacements – was dismissed.

Fears around the fitness of seamers, following the extended lay-off caused by the UK’s lockdown, mean that new playing conditions will be introduced along with recommended workloads for them.  Under England and Wales Cricket Board (EWCB) advice now awaiting sign-off from the governing body’s cricket committee, players under 20 years of age should not send down more 35 overs of “match intensity” bowling per week. This rises to 38 overs for under-22s and 42 for under-25s. Though there is some flexibility, amid an acceptance that match situations may see these limits exceeded, any player doing so would be then ruled out of the following match.

Seamers above the age of 25 must also undergo a three-day “bone recovery period” – also known as rest – should they exceed 42 overs in a match. In a move designed to encourage the use of spinners, the new ball will not become available until 90 overs, as opposed to 80 overs now, while the length of a day’s play will also come down from 96 overs to 90.  First innings will be also capped at 120 overs each, while the follow-on mark moves from 150 runs to 200 runs to reduce its deployment. 

“Mitigation measures” drawn up the EWCB’s medical team also advise that the loan system be used in a “proactive” and “collaborative” way by counties to ensure counties have sufficient bowling resources for their fixtures.  An EWCB spokesperson has confirmed that the governing body is looking to ensure the matches retain first-class status, with the three regional groups and the fixture list due to be published in the next week and designed to make as many games as possible commutable for the players.

Warning of too rapid return to four-day game, player litigation threat.

Nick Hoult.

London Daily Telegraph.

Sunday, 12 July 2020.

PTG 3192-15803.

The 18 counties have been warned that returning to four-day cricket without eight to twelve weeks of preparation poses a “significant” risk of serious stress fractures and could leave them open to litigation from injured players.  A document circulated to counties by the England and Wales Cricket Board’s (EWCB) science and medical department, warns of the significant risk of injury, particularly to fast bowlers, posed by playing four-day cricket without the recommended preparation time.

The report says: “Preparation time for return to cricket, especially bowlers, will need to be carefully considered and special playing conditions, such as substitutes, must also be considered. This is a unique period of shutdown and a rapid return carries well documented risks.  The risks of soft tissue island bony injury, especially lumbar stress fractures following an accelerated return to cricket are significant”.

The EWCB’s own research, adopted as guidelines by the International Cricket Council, states that players should have eight to twelve weeks preparation to play multi-day cricket (PTG 3188-15765, 8 July 2020).  But most counties will have only been in full training for four weeks when the Bob Willis Trophy starts because the majority were furloughed during the lockdown.

In a draft schedule seen by this writer, counties will play five rounds in total including a run of four four-day games with only three days rest between each match from Aug 1 to Aug 25.  Such a schedule does pose potential injury risks, but mitigating those presents problems for the first-class status of matches. The report recommends the use of bowling substitutes in gwelve-a-side teams but that would invalidate its first-class status. Instead the counties are planning to reduce overs from 96 to 90 per day and setting limits on how many overs bowlers can bowl.

There are worries from some counties that they could face legal action from a player who suffers a career-threatening injury if the appropriate preparation time has not been followed. It is the governing body, the EWCB, that will set the playing regulations and counties believe it is the board that should carry the legal risk. 

The report reveals that injuries in Germany's Bundesliga are 250 per cent above normal since the players returned after the Covid lockdown. The National Football League in the United States saw three years’ worth of Achilles ruptures in the first three weeks after the return to play following a players’ strike.

“Adequate player preparation takes months, not just weeks. Therefore consideration needs to be given to mitigate the risk of ‘preventable injuries’”, the report warns.  “A working group of county CMOs [chief medical officers\ consulted over these guidelines believe this is the greatest risk associated with the return of the four-day format and consideration for limits on overs and or substitutes would be a minimum contingency for injury mitigation. Their belief is that there should be careful consideration of the liability for any significant injury and importantly risk mitigation measures such as replacements and limited overs for bowlers”.

Counties voted 11-7 for first class cricket in 2020.
Elizabeth Ammon.

The Times.
Saturday, 11 July 2020.

All 18 counties agreed to play in the Bob Willis Trophy, the England and Wales Cricket Board’s shortened first class which will get underway on the first day of August and be followed by the Twenty20 Blast in September-October (PTG 3188-15765, 8 July 2020). That’s despite the vote to decide the make up of the 2020 season being 11-7 in favour of playing first-class rather than a 50-over competition prior to moving to T20s. Those who voted against were given the option to “opt-out” of playing in the four-day tournament, however, all seven have all agreed to participate in it.

The rearranged first-class competition will be played in three regionalised groups of six teams with the two sides who finish with the most points playing a five-day final, most probably at Lord’s, at the end of September. There will be no promotion or relegation this season. The matches, which will be live-streamed, will be played behind closed doors, at least initially, although counties are hopeful that spectators will be allowed to attend games by September.

There will be four rounds of matches next month before the T20 Blast starts on August 27, again in three regionalised groups. The final round of championship matches will be played in mid-September, which will be followed by another block of T20 matches and a finals day at Edgbaston on Saturday, September 19.

Paul Allott, the Lancashire director of cricket, said naming the red-ball competition after Willis, who died in December aged 70, would be a fitting tribute to the England fast bowler and former captain. “What a great gesture it [is]”, he said. “Bob was always championing a truncated county season with a final involved in it as well. It might fit both poignantly and be in the right way he would have wanted. For Bob to have a tournament named after him [is] very fitting”.