Trent Bridge 2020 Internationals Ditched - COVID

Trentbridge.co.uk

It has today been confirmed that Trent Bridge’s scheduled international matches this summer will no longer take place at the venue.

The home of Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club had been due to host a Test Match between England and Pakistan starting on 24 August, followed by the host nation’s One-Day International clash against Ireland on 10 September.

With a large amount of cricket displaced during the COVID-19 induced lockdown, and with each touring nation experiencing its own challenges, the revised schedule announced by the England and Wales Cricket Board will see matches played behind-closed-doors at Emirates Old Trafford and the Ageas Bowl.

Ticketholders will be contacted directly by the club with an offer of refunds or credit in their ticketing accounts to use for international matches at Trent Bridge in 2021.

“We are saddened that this announcement means our loyal audience won’t get to enjoy international cricket with us this year,” says Nottinghamshire Chief Executive Lisa Pursehouse.

“Well-attended matches at Trent Bridge are hugely important to our members and to cricket supporters throughout the East Midlands. However, we do understand in the current climate why this decision had to be taken.

“There has been a significant impact on the club as a result of COVID-19 and we are thankful to our members, supporters and partners for their patience and unstinting support during this difficult period.”

Trent Bridge’s next international engagements are scheduled for 2021, with England set to take on India in a Test Match and Pakistan in a T20 fixture at the venue next summer.

The international schedule for the 2021 season will be confirmed by the ECB at a later date.

Men’s T20WC to be officially called off this week.
Ben Horne,.

Sydney Daily Telegraph.

Monday, 6 July 2020.

PTG 3186-15760.

October-November's men’s Twenty20 World Cup (T20WC) is set to be officially postponed this week as Australia’s players are told to start preparing for a comeback matches against England.  Training for a return to action in September is the strongest indication yet that Cricket Australia’s (CA) national one-day side  will head to the UK for a limited overs tour in the biosecurity bubble, but elsewhere, the game remains in the grips of Covid-19.

Not only will the axe finally fall on Australia’s T20WC tournament this Friday as a result of the pandemic, the multimillion-dollar Indian Premier League (IPL) that is due to fill that void in October may have to be shifted to the United Arab Emirates or Sri Lanka because of the worsening situation in India.  There is a feeling Australia may now have to wait until 2022 to host the T20WC, but at least confirmation of the cancelling of this year’s event will allow administrators around the world to start mapping out how the game will relaunch over the coming months.

While the limited overs tour to the UK is still yet to be locked in, Australia’s quicks are building up their workloads for a return to play in September and players have been told to start preparing for another date against England – albeit a series of One Day Internationals and Twenty20 Internationals, but not Tests (PTG 3171-15695, 25 June 2020).  The England and Wales Cricket Board are increasingly confident the series will happen.

The UK has proposed quarantine-free travel for Australia, and unless this week’s Test series between England and the West Indies goes pear shaped inside the bubble (PTG 3186-15759 above), it’s expected Australia could be on their way over by mid-to-late August.

Officially calling off the T20WC will in turn allow Indian officials to lock in details for its opportunistic IPL, which could be worth up to $A800 million (£UK446m) for Indian cricket and could see Australian player Pat Cummins net the majority of his record $A3.17m (£UK1.8m)  deal.  If CA signs off on giving players permission to attend the IPL, the ideal scenario would be that they could go straight from the England limited overs series to wherever the T20 league is held in the Middle East or Asia.  It would save players from potentially having to quarantine twice back in Australia and then in the country where the IPL will be held.

If India is still able to host the IPL, it’s understood it would limit matches to a select number of locked down venues, possibly in Mumbai, Bangalore and Delhi.  But in that scenario, players would have a difficult decision to make over whether they’re prepared to risk being in one of the worst-affected countries in the world.

The International Cricket Council board meeting on Friday won’t necessarily determine when the T20WC will be moved to.  Australia’s preference would be to host it in October 2021, but at the moment India is scheduled to host that year’s tournament, and officials are fearing the local bid will be pushed back two years.