When will cricket return? - Josh’s biggest question
LANCASHIRE’S Josh Bohannon says the absence of cricket has driven him and his team-mates to find even more trivial pursuits.
And while the Ormskirk all-rounder confesses he’s “not a massive thinker”, he says the squad’s regular quiz sessions are helping to keep up the camaraderie they forged in securing promotion to the First Division of the Specsavers County Championship last season.
“It is frustrating,” admitted Bohannon. “But we’re all staying in touch with each other and making sure everyone’s well.
“We’re trying to keep that bond going that we had from last season, trying to stay positive about things.”
Up until a few weeks ago (yes, it does seem like longer), there was plenty to be positive about.
Bohannon, moved to the top of the order for the Championship run-in, found a rich vein of form at exactly the right time. His maiden first-class century, 174 against Derbyshire at Old
Trafford, set up a win that all but sealed promotion.
He says he’s never played better than the back end of last season.
A productive winter, on Lancs’ pre-season tour of India, followed – but now the momentum must grind to a halt.
He said: “I had a lot more clarity in terms of what I was thinking about; game plans, et cetera.
“It’s probably been the best winter I’ve had, and the best I’ve felt in a long time.
“I felt like I was really building up for the season, and ready to try and stake a claim that I could bat at 3 for long periods of time and score big hundreds.
“But when it does come back, I’ll make sure I’m ready.”
Several of Bohannon’s Lancashire team-mates received the news last week that the Hundred,
due to be launched in July amid great fanfare, has been postponed for a year. The likes of Liam Livingstone (who apparently is one of the squad’s top quizzers – although Bohannon suspects Google may play a part), Alex Davies, Saqib Mahmood, Matt Parkinson and new signing Luke Wood will have to wait to showcase their skills on the new stage. A different kind of limbo awaits county skipper Dane Vilas, who was one of the Manchester Originals’ top picks in the draft, but now faces a nervous wait to see whether he can even play in England next season, once Brexit has sealed the Kolpak loophole. The ECB, announcing the delay, said the coronavirus crisis means the Hundred will be “even more imperative” when we eventually make it to 2021.
CEO Tom Harrison added: “Whilst we are naturally disappointed that we won’t get to realise our ambitions this year, The Hundred will go ahead in 2021 when we are safely able to deliver everything we intended to help grow the game.
“As we emerge from the fallout of Covid-19, there will be an even greater need for The Hundred.
“Our survival as a game, long-term, will be dependent on our ability to recover financially and continue our ambition to build on cricket’s growing fan base.
“That need has not gone anyway, if anything, it is now more critical.”
Bohannon wasn’t selected in the draft, but was hopeful of a strong showing in the T20 Blast to possibly claim one of the eight wildcard spots. That, too, will have to wait.
He said: “I think it would have been a really good comp, there would have been a different feel about it and obviously it would have been on terrestrial TV. It would have given cricket an extra push on the back of the World Cup, so it’s frustrating that they’re not going to be able to do it.”
“Frustrating” is a word that keeps coming up – and with good reason. From the challenge of a professional athlete being cooped up in lockdown, to the uncertainty over what sort of a season we’ll eventually have, there’s not much else to call it. Bohannon is keeping his ambitions small, for the time being.
“It’d be nice if we could play some white ball cricket,” he said.
“If I could get a bit of a chance up the order in T20 cricket this season, that’d be great for me.
“I’ll just have to wait and see what happens, I suppose.” And so say all of us. OF all the fundraising initiatives dreamed up by local clubs to combat the coronavirus lockdown, few can have been as successful as Ainsdale CC’s virtual games.
Thanks to Alex Rigby and his copy of Cricket 19 on the Nintendo Switch, the club has raised £1,500 inside six weeks.