Bradford League forced to delay new season as cricket suspended

Stage One of the plan has already been implemented with all meetings and events planned by the BPL suspended, including the pre-season meetings for clubs and match officials.

Following Friday’s announcement that all pubs and clubs — including every cricket club in the country — will be closed for the foreseeable future, the league implemented Stage Two of their plan.

There will be no First Class cricket played until at least May 28 and the Bradford League have stated that all matches in April have been postponed, with the likelyhood of no cricket being played in May.

BPL chairman David Young said: “It is important that clubs know that our absolute priority is the health and welfare of everybody in the Bradford Premier League community, our players, officials, umpires, scorers, groundsmen, tea ladies, volunteers and supporters.

“These are unprecedented times and we appreciate the challenges facing our clubs and as a league we will do all we can by putting in the hard work and planning that is going to be needed in the coming weeks.”

To help assist clubs financially, the Bradford League will not be imposing an annual subscription charge of £50 this year and the Yorkshire Cricket Board is removing its deadline for club affiliation and will review the issue of subscriptions when the picture becomes clearer.

Stage Three of the league’s plan states that if cricket is unable to reinstated during May and June they may cancel fixtures for the first half of the season and just play the second half.

Considerations would then need to be made regarding implications on promotion and relegation, while amendments may also need to be made to cup competitions.

Mr Young added: “The advantage of invoking this stage would be that we buy some more time to assess the situation as we move through spring into summer when the epidemic is now being forecast to peak.

“I want, once again, to stress that these stages are not set in stone, but they give us a reasonable template for action, with flexibility built in, to amend if circumstances dictate or allow.

“We believe this plan gives us the time to consider each phase of the epidemic as it progresses, make decisions based on fact and is, at present, a structured approach to the current unprecedented situation. It is also, hopefully a helpful guide to our clubs.

“It would be the intention to try and keep (clubs) abreast of material developments, if and when they occur, including any further advice from the Governing Bodies.”

Bradford League champions Woodlands have already been affected by the ECB’s decision to suspend all forms of recreational cricket as they were due to travel to Lord’s this Saturday for the National Finals of the ECB Indoor Six A Side Competition.

Woodlands were due to face Kent side Broadstairs in the second semi-final having recorded a 72-run win over Tynemouth in the Regional Final at Bolton Arena.