World final may move to Hants
THE final of the World Test Championship looks set to be switched from Lord’s to Hampshire’s Ageas Bowl as a result of the continued pandemic.
The Ageas Bowl was used alongside Old
Trafford for England’s Testmatch summer, with its on-site hotel making it the perfect biosecure location.
Now it looks as though the ground, which had its first Test as recently as 2011, is in pole position to host to the ICC’s flagship long-format final.
Rod Bransgrove, the Hampshire chairman, says the county are ready – regardless of what happens between now and the slated start date of June 10 for the Championship’s inaugural finale.
Bransgrove said: “Biosecurity has become quite a science since we started developing it last year.
“At the Hilton we currently have rooms taken by frontline workers and construction workers who are working in biosecure environments. We are probably the most biosecure hotel in the country.
“We pioneered it and we’ve continued in that vein. We offer much lower risk than going and staying at hotels in London.
“And it’s not just the hotels, it’s the stadium, the staff, getting into the ground by Tube, all the things that people have to do to get to Lord’s.
“You would be upping the risk all the time.”
Back in November, the new ICC chairman Greg Barclay said world cricket’s governing body would probably ‘go back to the drawing board’ once the first edition of the event had been completed.
“Covid has probably highlighted some of the shortcomings we have got with the World Test Championship,” he said.
India and New Zealand are currently first and second in the league table and the favourites to reach the final. England and Australia are leading the chasing pack.