No ups and downs – even if cricket league starts
Sussex Cricket League clubs have been told there will be no promotion or relegation this season – even if games can resume in July.
League officials are running out of time to get the season started in early July as hoped, and have already ruled out ups and downs and have scrapped the T20 cups.
They are putting in place a late-season programme of friendlies, possibly with some form of T20 competition, if they cannot start ’til after July.
In an update to clubs this week, the league said: “The latest advice from the ECB last week indicated that a return to recreational cricket remains at least a month away. This suggests an early July start is becoming less realistic and we must therefore begin to plan for a later start date.
“The next ECB call is on June 17. If we do not receive the go-ahead on that call to start at the beginning of July, we will need to abandon the current plan.
“We will let you know by June 19 whether the SCL is going to begin as planned.”
If the league can start in July, the league says:
The T20 competitions have been cancelled as they have fallen too far behind and it would be unlikely they’d be able to play finals day at Hove.
There will be no promotion or relegation in 2020. The majority of clubs feel there are ‘too many moving parts’ to make this viable.
The season won’t go beyond the scheduled finish date.
If play can’t resume in July but can start after that, there are two options:
Play whatever matches are possible as friendlies based on the fixture list, or...
Organise some competitive cricket, maybe a localised T20 competition in August. Clubs would have up to six matches and there would be some kind of finals event for the group winners.
Clubs will not have to play at all if they do not want to.