Oval to welcome back fans for county clash

SURREY’S Bob Willis Trophy match against Kent next week is expected to be included in a fresh list of sporting test events ahead of a return for crowds this October. The Kia Oval was due to be one of two grounds to host spectators on the opening weekend of the Bob Willis Trophy — Edgbaston was the other — before Prime Minister Boris Johnson pulled the plug at the 11th hour due to concerns about the rising coronavirus transmission rate. The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport are re-drawing a pilot programme that starts with the final of the World Snooker Championship in Sheffield this weekend. Cricket was at the forefront of the original draft last month, and the Oval, as one of the few sporting venues to accommodate the public since sport began to be played behind closed doors earlier this summer, is well placed to play its part. Surrey housed up to 1,000 fans daily for a pre-season friendly against Middlesex and had invested in the safety and security measures to increase that to 2,500 for the first two days of the first-class fixture against the same opposition from August 1. The same number of people were to be admitted to Warwickshire’s game against Northants that weekend. DCMS set the attendance limits for events and, with Warwickshire away in the fourth round of the ECB’s bitesize four-day competition, could opt to use a smaller venue or outground as the ‘stress tests’ are not purely based on the size of crowds but the logistics of how people arrive, enter and are accommodated. For example, Surrey and Warwickshire were asked to work to different distancing guidelines and spectator protocols last month to provide comparative data. The aspiration is that grounds will operate at up to 30 per cent of capacity when crowds return in two months’ time. New Warwickshire chief Stuart Cain believes Edgbaston could be allowed 8,000 spectators for T20 Finals Day on October 3. ‘The sports minister came up and saw how well Edgbaston can handle crowds safely — and we’re hopeful,’ he said.