Goodwood, picturesque home of Chichester Priory Park - will it see any cricket this summer ?
Sussex Cricket League clubs have been told there will be no promotion or relegation this season - even if games can resume in July.
League officials are running out of time to get the season started in early July as hoped, and have already ruled out ups and downs and have scrapped the T20 cups, writes Steve Bone, Sports Editor of the Chichester Observer.
They are putting in place a late-season programme of friendlies, possibly with some form of T20 competition, if they cannot start until after July.
In an update to clubs this week, the league said: “The latest advice from the ECB last week indicated that a return to recreational cricket remains at least a month away. This suggests that an early July start is becoming less realistic and we must therefore begin to plan for a later start date.
T20 competition cancelled
“The next ECB call is on June 17. If we do not receive the go-ahead on that call to start at the beginning of July, we will need to abandon the current plan.
“We will let you know for certain by June 19 whether the SCL is going to begin as planned.”
If the league can start in July, the executive of the league say:
* The T20 competitions have been cancelled for 2020 as they have fallen too far behind to complete all the fixtures and would be unlikely to be able to play Finals Day at Hove.
* There will be no promotion or relegation in 2020. The majority of clubs feel there are ‘too many moving parts’ to make this viable.
* The season won’t go beyond the scheduled finish date.
If play cannot resume in July but can start after that, the league says there are two options:
* Play whatever matches are possible as friendlies based on the fixture list, or organise some competitive cricket, maybe a localised T20 competition in August. Clubs would have up to six matches and there would be some kind of finals event for the group winners.
The league said clubs and players would not have to play at all if they did not want to.
League officials are running out of time to get the season started in early July as hoped, and have already ruled out ups and downs and have scrapped the T20 cups, writes Steve Bone, Sports Editor of the Chichester Observer.
They are putting in place a late-season programme of friendlies, possibly with some form of T20 competition, if they cannot start until after July.
In an update to clubs this week, the league said: “The latest advice from the ECB last week indicated that a return to recreational cricket remains at least a month away. This suggests that an early July start is becoming less realistic and we must therefore begin to plan for a later start date.
T20 competition cancelled
“The next ECB call is on June 17. If we do not receive the go-ahead on that call to start at the beginning of July, we will need to abandon the current plan.
“We will let you know for certain by June 19 whether the SCL is going to begin as planned.”
If the league can start in July, the executive of the league say:
* The T20 competitions have been cancelled for 2020 as they have fallen too far behind to complete all the fixtures and would be unlikely to be able to play Finals Day at Hove.
* There will be no promotion or relegation in 2020. The majority of clubs feel there are ‘too many moving parts’ to make this viable.
* The season won’t go beyond the scheduled finish date.
If play cannot resume in July but can start after that, the league says there are two options:
* Play whatever matches are possible as friendlies based on the fixture list, or organise some competitive cricket, maybe a localised T20 competition in August. Clubs would have up to six matches and there would be some kind of finals event for the group winners.
The league said clubs and players would not have to play at all if they did not want to.
