Cricket would be a big lift – I am amazed the PM has kept it banned

Last summer’s cricket will live long in the memory. The World Cup final in July, making hearts race through a tied super over to see England crowned champions only by counting boundaries; the Headingley Test in August – with Ben Stokes’s unbeaten 135 and Jack Leach’s tenacious one not out – thought by many to be the greatest ever; a summer of Jofra Archer’s bowling against the returning Steve Smith’s man-of-the-series batting.

All over the country, children took up bat and ball, and many were welcomed by local clubs, delighted to see such enthusiasm. We were all looking forward to a surge of participation that would produce Test-winning talent in 10 years’ time.

What a difference a year makes. Even as we approach the month of July, the sound of leather on willow has not been heard in cricket grounds across Britain since last summer. The coronavirus has already laid waste to half the season. And having endured years of Arctic late springs and washedout Junes, the fates would have it that the months of lockdown have coincided with some of the most glorious British weather on record.

When the pandemic was rampant and the instruction was to stay at home, the loss of cricket, while sad, was obvious and inevitable. But since the official guidance changed to “Stay Alert”, cricket should have been one of the earliest activities to return, as did golf and tennis on June 1.

It is hard to think of a British team sport more socially distanced than cricket. Players’ proximity to each other is fleeting, and outdoor environments are well established as the safest places to impede transmission. At most clubs and county matches, there is plenty of space for spectators to sit apart.

It has pained me to see beautiful confirm this included cricket. I was cricket grounds in my constituency amazed and disappointed to be told of Tunbridge Wells silent and that instead it will remain banned. lifeless when they could be being The problem, the Prime Minister enjoyed by players and spectators said, is that a cricket ball is a alike – a delightful antidote to the “vector of transmission” of the constraints of lockdown and a virus. Yet the possibility of a ball source of fitness and fresh air. transmitting significant infection

I worry, too for the generation of in the open air has been described young people for whom last summer as remote by scientists. And that is sparked a motivation for the sport, without the precaution of regular and now some may see that cleaning with disinfectant wipes inspiration ebb away by next year. and hand sanitiser, which, as

When the Prime Minister made Michael Vaughan wrote in The his statement to the House of Telegraph yesterday, is easily done. Commons on Tuesday, he said that And it is accepted that dressing from July 4 “recreations and sport rooms would be out of bounds, and will be allowed”. So I asked him to contact in pavilions restricted.

It has pained me to see beautiful grounds silent and lifeless

I hope that the Government will rethink this. Hours after his answer to me in the Commons, the Prime Minister declared he hoped to play village cricket this summer. That is a positive sign. I hope that the England and Wales Cricket Board and the Government will be able to review the precautions possible and come to a different view.

But if a change of heart is not made within days, it will be too late to salvage the last few weeks of the season. For players and spectators, adults and children, that would be a late summer of enjoyment and fitness that if lost, can never be regained.