English professional cricket suffered its first Covid-19 abandonment since the resumption when stumps were pulled at the Bob Willis Trophy match between Northamptonshire and Gloucestershire just after lunch.
The decision was made because a member of the Northants squad, not playing at Bristol but self-isolating at home after starting to feel ill on Thursday, received a positive test at 11.30 am on Sunday morning. Last Tuesday he had been in contact with two members of the team who had travelled to Bristol.
Officials took the decision to call the match off after consultation between both clubs and the England and Wales Cricket Board. A statement released on the Gloucestershire website read: “Gloucestershire, Northamptonshire and the ECB are unified in the belief that player welfare is paramount and that no risks should be taken with the health and safety of the players, officials and administrators involved in this match.”
Neither team had a chance of qualifying for the Bob Willis Trophy final due to be played at Lord’s later this month, and with the match abandoned as a draw, Northants were awarded 10 points and Gloucestershire eight.
The two teams, first and second in the T20 Central Group, are due to meet in a T20 Blast game on Friday afternoon at Wantage Road – a decision on whether or not it will go ahead will be made by the ECB in the next 24 hours once it has tracked the movements of the players. Much will depend on how interlinked the white-ball and red-ball squads of both sides are, with Northants having largely separate XIs for the two competitions. No other counties are believed to be affected.
Strict guidelines were drawn up by the ECB to enable cricket to take place this summer, after demonisation of the cricket ball by Boris Johnson as “a vector of disease”. Players must take regular sanitisation breaks every six overs and are banned from wetting the ball with saliva. Players are forbidden from sharing hats or jumpers and those at all levels must also field their own balls, which has led to the bizarre sight of England players crawling under bucket seats in empty stadiums to look for deliveries slammed into the stands.
County players have not had to live within the strict biosecure bubbles necessary for their international cousins but have to follow a number of rules on how to travel and behave and are subjected to regular temperatures and health checks.
Nevertheless, individual players have fallen foul of Covid regulations. The Kent teenager Jordan Cox had to self-isolate after having his photograph taken with fans, and Nick Gubbins was withdrawn by Middlesex after coming into contact with someone who had tested positive. Two members of the Lancashire Lightning squad are currently self-isolating after breaching stage three guidelines and will miss two rounds of the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy.
