Coronavirus: Reports County Championship Cricket season could be cancelled
Cricket’s entire County Championship season could be cancelled due to the coronavirus outbreak, reports emerged last night.
The Daily Telegraph reports that with the start of the already congested season delayed until at least the end of May, priority is being given to international and domestic T-20 cricket as opposed to the longer form of the game.
Four-day matches are loss-making for most counties.
Though the Telegraph understands that a number of four-day matches could be played, a full season would not be played and so the County Championship title would go unclaimed for the first time since World War II.
County players and non-playing staff are all expected to take either furloughs or pay cuts as the economic impact of the Covid-19 virus makes itself felt in the sporting arena.
England’s World Cup winning wicketkeeper Jos Buttler yesterday announced he would be auctioning his shirt from last summer’s Lord’s final, when England beat New Zealand in a dramatic super over, to support frontline workers in the fight against the virus.