Cricket

Australia’s planned cricket tour of England this autumn will go ahead after both the ECB and Cricket Australia agree to biosphere and travel plans.

The Australian squad will arrive on 24th August, and will first travel to Derbyshire before transferring to Hampshire’s The Ageas Bowl after England’s third Test match against Pakistan on 27th August. 

The tourists will then play intra-squad practice games before the three-match Vitality IT20 begins on 4th September at The Ageas Bowl. The venue will host all three of the games.

The ECB has confirmed its new domestic women’s 50-over competition will be named the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy in honour of England’s World Cup-winning captain.

A special-edition one-day competition, created specially for the summer of 2020, the event aims to ensure that women’s domestic cricket is played, despite the challenges presented by COVID-19.

The month-long competition will begin on the August Bank Holiday weekend and will feature the eight teams from the new elite domestic structure playing in two regionalised groups of four.

The 2020 Indian Premier League (IPL) – postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic – will now take place across September, October and November at bio-secure venues in the United Arab Emirates.

Starting on the 19th September, the Twenty20 tournament will be played in three secure venues in Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi. It will comprise of 60 matches across 51 days (up from 44 last year) and will see the final played out on 8th November.

The ICC has confirmed that the Men’s T20 World Cup 2020, which was set to take place in Australia, has been postponed.

The Board of the ICC’s commercial subsidiary - the ICC Business Corporation (IBC) - voted to take the decision, and also to set out windows for the next three ICC men’s events in order to clarify the cricket calendar, including moving the 2023 ODI Cricket World Cup to later in the year.

The next two ICC men’s tournaments will both be T20 World Cups held in October and November 2021, and across the same two months in 2022.

All matches throughout the three-match West Indies Test series – which begins on 8th July – will be played behind-closed-doors. 

The England Men’s Test cricket team will wear the names of key workers on their training shirts on day one of the first Test against the West Indies.

As part of the ECB’s #Raisethebat campaign, the series - which will mark the behind-closed-doors return of cricket after the coronavirus lockdown - will celebrate members of the cricket family who have gone above and beyond to help their communities during the pandemic.

Those who are named on the shirts have all been nominated by their local cricket clubs, while their stories will also appear on the ECB’s digital platforms. 

The ICC has approved a series of interim rule changes which will include provision for Test cricket teams to display sponsor logos on the front of playing shirts.

The ICC Chief Executives’ Committee (CEC) ratified a series of steps to help the sport through the coronavirus pandemic, including health and safety measures as well as those aimed at mitigating the financial impact the lockdown will have.

The ECB reported a record turnover of £228 million for 2019/20 at its virtual AGM, an increase of £56 million on 2018.

The hosting of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2019 saw the record turnover met, while the ECB says the figure represents a considerable increase on an ‘average year’, in which the organisation would expect to reach a turnover of £125 million.

The governing body for cricket in England and Wales also says that 2019/20 profits exceeded expectations, too, hitting £5.7 million. 

The ECB has launched a new campaign to highlight the key workers that have been helping to support their community during the coronavirus pandemic. 

Developed in partnership with creative agency MATTA, the campaign will see more than 300 key workers, who have been nominated by their cricket clubs, feature on over 300 billboards across England and Wales.

The ECB has launched a new app, Dynamos Cricket, to help keep children active during the lockdown period.

The free app targets children aged eight and over, and provides them with cricket skills, games and quizzes that they can do at home, without the need for a lot of space or equipment. 

Alongside the launch of the app, the governing body for cricket in England and Wales has also released results of a survey which reveals that the lockdown may change families’ attitudes to exercise and activity.