Finals Day Could See 8000

 

Edgbaston could hold 8,000 fans on T20 Finals Day.
Elizabeth Ammon.

The Times.

Thursday, 13 August 2020.

PTG 3221-15955.

Edgbaston could host to up to 8,000 spectators on the England and Wales Cricket Board’s (EWCB) Twenty20 Finals Day in early October, according to the new Warwickshire chief executive.  Finals Day has been staged at Warwickshire’s home ground every year since 2013, with the competition’s semi-finals and final played out in front of a sell-out crowd.  This year’s T20 Blast group matches will take place behind closed doors but the government has previously set October 1 as a target date for some spectators to return to live sporting events. With that in mind, Finals Day has been moved from its original date in September to Saturday, October 3.

Stuart Cain took up the role of Warwickshire chief exeutive less than a fortnight ago and he is confident Edgbaston can safely host supporters for the climax of the EWCB’s 20-over competition.  “Depending on the Sports Ground Safety Authority guidelines, which will come out of the government, we think that between 5,000 and 8,000 could attend”, Cain said. “We have proved already that Edgbaston can host a test pilot. We had the sports minister [Nigel Huddleston] down and he was quite complimentary about what we’ve done. We’ve proved to the sporting world and the local authorities that we can do it”.

This year’s Finals Day had already sold out, prior to the suspension of the start of the season, and existing ticket holders have been told they can carry them over to next year or apply for a refund.  Any spectators that are allowed into this year’s Finals Day would have to purchase tickets separately and there are still a number of decisions to be made about who could be permitted — whether it would be limited to people from the local area to minimise travel, or only members of the four counties involved on the day.

The UK prime minister is expected to provide a further update on the return of fans to live sport in his Covid-19 briefing on Friday. Cain recognises that there are logistical issues around travelling to and from matches that are harder to overcome than socially distancing 8,000 people in a 25,000-seater stadium, which is relatively straightforward, but thinks Blast Finals Day can be used as a template for bigger events in other sports.

“By October 1 they want 30 per cent in football grounds”, he said. “If you’re suddenly going to try and get 20,000 into Old Trafford and you’ve only had a couple of thousand at Edgbaston and the Oval, that is a pretty big jump from what they wanted to do a couple of weeks ago. The Blast might be a middle ground and then you need to look at how you get large crowds in from different areas”.