The England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) have today confirmed a further delay to the start of the professional domestic cricket season, with no domestic cricket to be played before August 1.
The specifics of the season remain subject to ongoing advice from UK Government and health experts, but the ambition remains to host domestic men's and women's cricket across England and Wales later this summer.
The Professional Game Group (PGG) will look to outline opportunities for domestic play, which will be presented to the ECB Board in June. These plans include a number of options for both red-ball and white-ball cricket, and the working group is also exploring options where non-televised games can be live streamed for members and supporters.
ECB Chief Executive Officer, Tom Harrison, said: “Naturally we want to see cricket being played at every level. We remain hopeful of seeing both domestic and recreational cricket this season and planning with the PGG has allowed us to map a number of potential scenarios for domestic play.
“Whilst traditional formats of our competitions are the preference, we are not against exploring the unorthodox to ensure that we can return our players to the field.
"That can only happen though when it is safe, and we have said throughout this crisis that the safety and well-being of everyone involved in the game is our key priority.
"We have learned a lot and continue to learn about the safety protocols that would need to be in place to stage international cricket behind closed doors in this environment and those protocols will also need to apply to the domestic game."
Chief Executive of Glamorgan Cricket, Hugh Morris, said, “Tomorrow would have marked the start of our Vitality Blast campaign with a trip to Chelmsford, and Sunday would have seen us host the first Vitality Blast game of 2020 at Sophia Gardens with Surrey set to visit us. We are naturally disappointed, like all cricket fans, that we are still unable to enjoy the game and support our sides.
“We have been working tirelessly at Glamorgan to make sure that when cricket eventually returns that we will be ready for it. We are as keen as ever to begin the season, in whatever guise that may be, and welcome our fans through the gates, but we also understand that health and safety must remain the number one priority.
“We will continue to work closely with the England and Wales Cricket Board and the Welsh Government on how to ensure that any return to cricket is safe for our players, for fans, and protects the best interests of the club beyond this unique 2020 season.”
Note to Members and ticket buyers:
We appreciate that this is an uncertain time, and we thank you for your patience and understanding.
Members - a final decision around Memberships will be taken once the full context of the season and the schedule is understood
IT20 ticket holders - we're following ECB guidance and waiting for central updates on the staging of games. When we receive more information, we can then share that with ticket holders and if necessary we will be offering refunds.
Vitality Blast ticket holders - no decision yet taken, until season schedule is understood
Once the season structure is finalised, any eligible requests for refunds will be honoured by the Club.