Gidney: Crowds may be back this summer
CRICKET
DANIEL Gidney is hopeful Lancashire will be playing cricket before the end of the summer - and that some spectators will be there to watch them.
Cricket has been suspended until July 1 at the earliest following the coronavirus pandemic.
Lancashire are yet to start their season, and there are no guarantees there will be any county cricket this year.
The ECB are prioritising England’s international fixtures, and plans are moving along for the Test series against the West Indies and Pakistan to go ahead.
If they do, it is likely Emirates Old Trafford will be selected as one of the bio-secure venues along with Hampshire’s Ageas Bowl to share the six Tests due to the hotel facilities on both grounds.
Along with three ODIs against Ireland, Lancashire could host 18 days of international cricket this summer, but all behind closed doors.
However, Red Rose chief executive Gidney believes it could be possible for Lancashire to be playing Vitality Blast matches in front of around 3,000 at the 26,000 capacity Old Trafford before the end of the summer - government rules allowing.
“I’m hopeful that we can get some domestic cricket away in the back end of August and September, at least behind closed doors, but possibly even with some small crowds,” Gidney said.
“Sometimes you can get into this negative box. And when I’m being positive, I’m not being reckless or saying things that can’t happen from a safety perspective.
“We could have domestic cricket with 2,0003,000 people in with seats separated out in the stadium, Perspex barriers on counters.
“There are ways that we can make a sanitised, smaller crowd, domestic cricket environment possible at the back end of the year based on the current trajectories that we’re looking at from the science and the infection rate keeping down.
“As long as the infection rate continues to drop, then I believe we should be able to get some form of domestic cricket back and, hopefully, with some small crowds.”
Lancashire have suffered financially through the lockdown, but this week announced record net profits for 2019 of £5m.
But once cricket is back up and running again, Gidney has global ambitions for the club as he is looking to tap into the Indian market.
Earlier this year, the Red Rose squad held a training camp in Mumbai and if the international calendar remains the same, India are playing at Emirates Old Trafford both next year and in 2022. Said Gidney: “We want to make Lancashire the second favourite team for all Indian fans.
“It is about raising our profile in India and broadcast is a way to do that and we want to launch Lancashire TV and get as much Lancashire cricket content as we can broadcast in the sub-continent.
“That is very much part of our growth strategy.
“Touch wood India are playing at Emirates Old Trafford in both 2021 and 2022. That is a platform. The passion for the game in India is enormous and unrivalled.”
Meanwhile, the ECB have confirmed up to 18 England bowlers were given the go-ahead to take part in individual training sessions across seven county grounds last week as they begin their build up to playing international cricket this summer.
Lancashire’s Jimmy Anderson, Saqib Mahmood and Matthew Parkinson were due to return with Red Rose head coach Glen Chapple at Emirates Old Trafford under strict safety protocols.
Edgbaston, Emirates Riverside, Kia Oval, Trent Bridge, Taunton and Hove are also being used for 15 other bowlers who could play a part in England’s two Test series against Pakistan and West Indies and their ODI schedule.
Each ground hosted at least one session last week, before a full roll out on Monday.
The designated bowlers, whose identities have not yet been confirmed by the ECB, will have their temperatures checked while social distancing is also a must during the sessions.
As training advances to smaller groups, there will be more stringent virus testing.
CRICKET
LANCASHIRE have put on hold plans to further increase the capacity at Emirates Old Trafford as the financial slump caused by the coronavirus pandemic bites.
But the club say the project to increase the stadium to 29,500 will still happen, just not as originally schemed.
Lancashire had planning permission for a new double-tier stand to replace the old Red Rose Suite approved in January, along with blueprints to extend the current Hilton Garden Inn hotel.
Work was due to start at the end of next season. However, that has now been put back.
“It might mean some of the plans for development - the building of the new stand, the extension to the hotel - might not happen immediately or in as grand a scale as we would have wished. But they will still happen,” said acting chairman Les Platts.
“We were carrying on with the planning up until March.
“But when the crisis hit, we put a stop to it.
“All we can say at the moment is, ‘There is a halt’.
“As and when we get through it and there’s more certainty over 2021 finances, we’ll start planning again.
“It’s a postponement of the development, not a cancellation of it.”
Meanwhile, Platts hasn’t ruled out playing some of Lancashire’s games at outground this summer, if domestic cricket returns, with Emirates Old Trafford earmarked to host international cricket in July and August.
“We have a number of outgrounds which are fit for purpose,” he said.
“Hopefully it will be a mixture of Emirates Old Trafford and outgrounds for Lancashire matches.”