Recreational cricket to resume in the UK next week

Tony Mogan3 July 2020

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has confirmed cricket in the UK can resume next week.

Explaining his previous comments of a cricket ball being a "vector of disease" amid the coronavirus pandemic, he said: "I sought scientific advice and medical opinions, the third umpire has been invoked.

"What I can say is that we do want to work as fast as possible to get cricket back, and we will be publishing guidelines in the next few days so that cricket can resume in time for next weekend."

The decision comes hours after Johnson suggested a return for the sport was still some way off, telling LBC Radio: “The risk is not so much the ball - though that may be a factor - it’s the teas, it’s the changing rooms and so on.

"There are other factors involved which generate proximity which you might not get in a game of tennis.”

The comments were disputed by the ECB who are now drawing up approved guidelines for the return of the sport following the U-turn on Friday evening.

A statement from the ECB read: "We are delighted that the UK Government have given their permission for recreational cricket to return from next weekend. We will shortly be publishing our approved guidelines to help clubs and players prepare for cricket's return."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in