Firstly, I would like to wish the cricket community across Durham a Happy New Year.
Following the introduction of new national lockdown restrictions last week, ECB confirmed that all indoor and outdoor privately owned cricket facilities need to close for all but elite cricket activity and disability cricket outdoors.
Under the current circumstances many of you may be worried about the prospects of play in the upcoming season but I wanted to assure you that we remain hopeful that we will be playing a full season.
Durham Cricket’s Recreational Department is planning for a normal season and our development officers are currently on flexible furlough to allow them to be available to support and help clubs across the county.
We know that the current situation seems disheartening and presents more unknowns, but we would like to encourage clubs to prepare and plan for the 2021 season to start as normal – only that way would we be able to start the season quickly when safe and able to do so.
We are keen to not lose any opportunities for play and are approaching the pre-season phase proactively.
We have already been in touch with clubs in regards to the Durham Cricket Board Junior League as the senior leagues across the county have also started planning.
ECB have emailed clubs to actively encourage them to register their All Stars Cricket and/or Dynamos sessions. ECB will also be running a National Programmes Seminar for clubs on Tuesday, 9th February at 6.00pm covering:
- Key programme updates
- 2021 priorities and ambitions
- Activator recruitment and training
- National marketing plan and how clubs will be supported
- Refund policies and COVID restriction support
Club representatives can register for the seminar here.
Despite the shortened 2020 season, we witnessed fantastic developments for the female game across Durham last season and we look forward to building on that success in the upcoming summer. You can find out a bit more about the progress of the women’s game in 2020 in our annual report here.
Durham Cricket will continue to work in close partnership with ECB, as ECB engage with the Government to continue to navigate the game through this uncertainty and into the season.
We remain dedicated to ensuring that the cricket community is supported through the coming weeks and months, as we get ready for, hopefully, a full and safe cricket season in 2021.
I encourage clubs to join us in preparing for the season and to get in touch with our club development team if they need help or support.
Bob Jackson
Durham Cricket Board
Chairman