Decision on local comps looming

LINDISFARNE will find out today if it is the Cricket Tasmania Premier League premiers.

Cricket peak bodies from each state held a phone conference last night to discuss whether to cancel local competitions including state premier leagues.

It is expected that Cricket Australia will announce that competitions will not go ahead this morning.

Cricket Tasmania has also postponed the Cricket Tasmania Awards Night, which incorporates the Ricky Ponting Medal, until further notice.

The Rodwell and Fazackerley Medal dinner for grade cricket and the Community Cricket Awards will also be postponed, possibly until next summer.

The news comes after the final round of Sheffield Shield cricket was scrapped due to coronavirus precautions.

Chief executive Dominic Baker said the decisions were made in the interests of player, staff and community safety.

“Player safety came first. Given that we were going to have to fly to Victoria for our last game potentially we could have had players in isolation in Victoria for up to 14 days if there was a case or even suspicion of coronavirus with one of our players,” Baker said.

“It made much more sense to us not to travel.”

Tasmanian players and coaches have contracts coming up in the offseason in India and the UK. Baker said their travel will be subject to Government advice.

Baker could not say how many tickets had been sold for the postponed one-day international at Blundstone Arena and said the impact on the bottom line was “material but not significant”.

Fixtures for next summer have not been finalised.