Oval and Edgbaston await all-clear for crowds

The Kia Oval and Edgbaston expect to be first to resume outdoor spectator trials as the Government deliberates this weekend over its new timetable for the return of crowds to sport arenas.

Surrey and Warwickshire had already spent around £50,000 each on making their grounds Covid-19 ready for the first weekend of testing in the week before Boris Johnson put a “brake” on lockdown easing two weeks ago.

Having crowds at the Bob Willis Trophy game at the Oval next Saturday had previously been mooted as an option by Richard Gould, the Surrey chief executive.

Neither the Oval nor Edgbaston had been contacted by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport yesterday, but both clubs are assuming their venues will be chosen, after the World Snooker Championship was allowed to resume its crowd testing yesterday.

Edgbaston has ambitions to host up to 8,000 spectators on T20 Finals Day in early October, Stuart Cain, the new Warwickshire chief executive, has hinted.

This year’s T20 Blast group matches will take place behind closed doors, but the Government had previously set Oct 1 as a possible easing date, so Finals Day has been moved from its original spot in September to Oct 3.

Due to social-distancing rules, most stadiums were expected to be around a third full this autumn. Today and tomorrow, around 300 will be allowed into the 1,000-capacity Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, two weeks after trials were suspended hours into the opening day’s action.

The DCMS confirmed a full pilot programme would be announced within the next week after the Prime Minister sanctioned a resumption of the timetable of crowds returning.