Plan B Telegraphed - an Ageist Return

 

Revealed: County cricket's plans to be the first sport to welcome back spectators

Two plans for this summer's schedule have been established, with the sport's elderly fanbase raising hopes of a swift return for fans

ByTim Wigmore Daily Telegraph online19 February 2021 

County cricket hopes that its elderly fanbase means it will be the first sport to allow spectators to return to grounds when the Championship season begins on April 8.

Plans under discussion include admitting only spectators who have had a Covid-19 vaccine at least three weeks previously — the point at which the doses are highly effective — to further reduce the likelihood of transmission in grounds.

Positive news about the rollout of the vaccine is leading to growing optimism among county chiefs, with everyone over the age of 50 due to have received one dose by the end of March.

It is also likely that spectator numbers will initially have to be restricted if the government does give the go-ahead for fans to return. But the normal crowd numbers at County Championship matches in early season, typically a couple of thousand nationwide, would likely mean minimal disruption.

Telegraph Sport understands that all counties have modelled how to phase in crowds safely at different levels — 25 per cent, 50 per cent and 100 per cent — and then ramp up numbers when it is safe to do so. All counties have submitted these plans to the ECB.

The ECB are also working with the government’s Sports Technology and Innovation Group to understand and plan how fans can safely be welcomed back this summer. The aim is to be flexible as the landscape changes.

County Championship 2021

T20 Blast 2021

An alternative schedule has also been prepared if capacity crowds are not allowed by the time that the Twenty20 Blast begins, on June 9. On this schedule, the T20 Blast would be played later in the summer and each county’s Championship programme would be cut from 14 games to 10. County chiefs are prepared to change the format of the season once it is already under way if need be.

Should another surge of coronavirus arrive, the concern is not about matches being unplayed, but about delays in bringing back full-capacity crowds affecting the revenue that counties earn from the Twenty20 Blast. The competition generates about 90 per cent of counties' match-day revenue.

If sufficiently large crowds cannot be allowed for the start of the T20 Blast, which is scheduled for June 9, the alternative schedule brings forward later rounds in the County Championship. This back-up plan entails all 10 County Championship conference games being played by the end of June. Then, rather than the planned Super September format, pitting teams into groups depending on where they finish in their conferences, the top two teams across the conference stages would meet in a final, which would be brought forward to July.

Under these proposals, the T20 Blast would begin before the Hundred — the new competition that starts on July 21 —with the bulk of the T20 Blast being played in September. The plans would minimise the financial loss to counties if capacity crowds are not permitted.

Provisions for Plan B are designed to maximise flexibility. But whether following plan A or plan B, the first eight rounds of County Championship fixtures would take place at the same time. County chiefs say that this provides an easy mechanism to change the format of the season once it is already under way.

One point of contention under the proposed Plan B is whether there would be a County Championship winner crowned after the final, or whether this five-day game would only crown a new Bob Willis Trophy winner. But there is a desire to contest the County Championship this year if at all possible. Last season, it was felt the five group games per county before the final were not sufficient to crown a winner, but a programme of 10 group games and then a final would be of equal length to the Sheffield Shield, Australia's first-class competition.