COVID 19 - UPDATES

GMT20200729-183546_August-Cup_1920x1080 from Sussex Cricket Foundation on Vimeo.

As the recreational game returns to play, the two ECB emergency funding schemes that are available to cricket clubs and leagues have undergone some changes to specifically help clubs re-open and get games of cricket on under new COVID-19 guidelines.

With many government funding sources concluding, ECB is extending the ‘Return to Cricket Grant Scheme’ until December 2020.

The differential funding level between clubs with junior sections and adult only clubs and the recommended £15,000 turnover limit have been removed.

In addition, the ‘Emergency Loan Scheme’ has increased the amounts that can be loaned and extended the scheme indefinitely. The scheme may be particularly useful if clubs require support over the coming winter and provides longer term sustainable support.

Emergency Loan Scheme

The scheme aims to support affiliated Cricket Clubs during the COVID-19 crisis by providing funding to help cover any shortfall in the preparation, essential day-to-day running and maintenance costs of facilities following the resumption of recreational cricket.

Who can apply?

Clubs affiliated to their County Cricket Board in 2019 or 2020.

What will the scheme fund?

Whilst this is not an exhaustive list, ECB will consider applications for costs for a period of up to 12 months.  The Club should calculate its estimated shortfall in the following expenditure areas:

3.1       Facilities Preparation Costs:

• Adapting to comply with COVID-19 guidelines
• Pitch Renovation

3.2       Essential Fixed and/or Contracted Costs:

• Utility or Service Costs
• Rental charges
• Staff costs (employees not players)
• Cleaning or maintenance commitments
• IT licences
• Security
• Insurance
• Equipment orders that can’t be deferred or recovered
• TV / Broadband Subscriptions (where it is not suspended)
• Affiliations
• Any other reasonable fixed and / or contracted costs

How much loan can I apply for?

Club with a Junior Section1 (including All Stars Cricket / Dynamos Cricket) between £1,000 and £50,000.

Club with an adult section only between £1,000 and £20,000.

1A Cricket Club with a Junior Section is defined as a Club that offers appropriate coaching and competition to cricketers under 18 years of age. 

How do I apply?

Before applying, it is highly recommended clubs read the Emergency Loan Scheme guidance notes.

Clubs apply by clicking here.

Where do I go for help?

If cricket clubs have any questions about the Emergency Loan Scheme please read the frequently asked questions or contact the facilities help desk by emailing loans@ecb.co.uk.

Return to Cricket Grant Scheme

The scheme aims to support affiliated Cricket Clubs and Leagues within England and Wales, during the COVID-19 crisis, by providing emergency grant funding to help cover any shortfall in the preparation, essential day-to-day running and maintenance costs of facilities following the resumption of recreational cricket.

Who can apply?

• Cricket Clubs and Leagues (Open-Age or Junior) affiliated to the ECB* via their County Cricket Board in 2019 or 2020

*Includes Clubs and Leagues which affiliated to ECB nationally, via the African Caribbean Cricket Association (ACCA) or National Asian Cricket Council (NACC), in 2019 or 2020.

What will the scheme fund?

Clubs and Leagues can apply for:

Facilities Preparation Costs 

• Adapting to comply with COVID-19 guidelines
• Pitch Renovation

Essential Fixed and / or Contracted Costs

• Utility or Service Costs
• Rental charges
• Staff costs (employees - not coaches or players)
• Cleaning or maintenance commitments
• IT Licences
• Security
• Insurance
• Equipment orders that can’t be deferred or recovered
• TV / Broadband Subscriptions (where it is not suspended)
• Affiliations
• Any other reasonable fixed and / or contracted costs

How much grant can I apply for?

Each application will be based on an assessment of need up to £3,000.

How do I apply?

Before considering an application, it is highly recommended that clubs and leagues read the Return to Cricket Grant Scheme guidance notes to determine if they are eligible to apply.

Please contact your County Cricket Board for an Application Form.

Where do I go for help?

If cricket clubs or leagues have any questions about the Return to Cricket Grant Scheme please read the frequently asked questions or contact the ECB facilities help desk by emailing grantmanagement@ecb.co.uk.

League Emergency Loan Scheme

The ECB League Emergency Loan Scheme aims to support affiliated cricket leagues (open-age and junior leagues) during the COVID-19 crisis through the provision of interest-free loans.

Who can apply?

Open-age and junior leagues affiliated direct to ECB, or a partnership agreement via their County Cricket Board (CCB) or the National Asian Cricket Council (NACC), National Cricket Conference (NCC) or Afro-Caribbean Cricket Association (ACCA) in 2019 or 2020.

What will the scheme fund?

The cost of cricket balls, plus, unrecoverable costs above £2,000 in the 2020 season which may include:

• The cost of block booking/hire of grounds​
• The cost associated with the production of league handbooks​
• The cost of purchase of kit and/or equipment ​
• The cost of staging events

How much loan can a league apply for?

Up to £50,000

If a league requires a loan exceeding this limit, please contact the ECB facilities help desk by emailing loans@ecb.co.uk.

How do I apply?

Leagues should apply by clicking here.

Before applying, it is highly recommended leagues read the League Emergency Loan Scheme guidance notes. 

Where do I go for help?

If leagues have any questions about the League Emergency Loan Scheme please read the frequently asked questions or contact the ECB facilities help desk by emailing loans@ecb.co.uk. 

Weekly Q & A Drop in Sessions – Friday 10th July 2pm to 3pm and then every Wednesday from 15th July to 5th August between 4:30pm and 5pm

Join here - https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87060617293

Revisions :-

As public safety remains our number one priority, below is a revision to the Guidance issued yesterday under the heading Additional advice for socially distanced match-play.  A ‘hygiene break’ should take place every six overs or every 20 minutes, whichever is sooner, in which the ball is cleaned with an anti-bacterial wipe (conforming to BS EN 14476)

Now reads:-

A ‘hygiene break’ should take place every six overs or every 20 minutes, whichever is sooner, in which the ball is cleaned with an antimicrobial wipe

Dear Clubs,

As the many clubs who were represented on the SCF webinar last night will have heard, we have had a massive response to the August Cup. Of the 143 clubs in the league, only 22 have yet to declare their intentions. 

At the time of writing, 214 of our 342 teams have entered, with a further 63 confirmed as not entering. These are a mixture of clubs who have decided that they will not play cricket this summer, clubs who have entered some but not all teams due to expected availability and clubs who didn't want to play what was expected be a short form tournament. Therefore, those 22 clubs I mentioned represent 65 total teams. IF YOU ARE ONE OF THOSE CLUBS AND WISH TO ENTER, PLEASE DO SO VIA THE SURVEY BY THE CLOSING DATE, WHICH IS NOW SUNDAY 12th JULY. We have extended this by two days to ensure we get everyone in. The link is below.

https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=1EyAUcHDlUapmG4rI0WKaJ6dszg0a3pAlgZdbHxnPERUN1ZaWTVBM1MxNkQ4QkQwSURJVkZCNERCWS4u

To clarify the format of  the August Cup, now that we have the ECB playing guidance, all matches will be 40 overs per side win/lose. Groups will be 6 teams, so you will have 5 Saturday fixtures between 1st and 29th August, either 2 or 3 of those being at home. If any club envisages problems hosting matches but has not advised this via the survey, PLEASE TELL US NOW. All matches will begin at 1pm to allow for junior cricket to be played on Saturday mornings.

If you are a club that had decided not to enter the August Cup in favour of playing friendlies, you may have worked out by now that there will not be too many clubs available to play friendlies against! The last thing we want is clubs to get caught out by this and find themselves with no opponents for cricket in August. Therefore, if any club now wants to enter, PLEASE LET US KNOW BY SUNDAY.

Before entering, please carefully gauge availability within your club. Whilst we want as many teams to have cricket as possible, the worst thing for anyone will be to have a match conceded meaning a precious Saturday lost. Please be considerate of your potential opponents when entering teams.

Matches will be played with red league balls and you should have received the e-mail sent a few days ago by Daniel Oliver regarding ordering from Gray-Nicolls. Please order the grade of ball you would ordinarily have been playing with this season. All matches will be played in whites, so no coloured kit.

We are currently considering the issue of registration and also the rules that the August Cup will be played under. These will be distributed in due course, the main immediate priority is finalising the entries and deciding the groups so that fixture making can begin.

So to summarise: -

• If you haven't entered, or declined and want to enter, you have until Sunday to do so. Once the groups are done, no further entries will be possible.

• Get your balls ordered if you haven't already.

• We'll send out the groups sometime next week.

• We'll advise fixtures and competition rules as soon as possible, but not less than a week before the competition starts.

Kind Regards,

Gary Stanley

Chair

1st Central Sussex Cricket League

Club Webinar 8th July 2020 from Sussex Cricket Foundation on Vimeo.

Following the fantastic news on Friday night regarding the resumption of Recreational Cricket, we will be holding a Club Webinar THIS WEDNESDAY from 7.30pm. The aim of the webinar is to provide you with all the necessary information to enable you to safely return to cricket, starting on Saturday 11th July.
 
We hope to have received playing guidance from the ECB shortly, which will be discussed at the webinar along with updates from:
 
General Update – Gary Wallis-Tayler
1st Central Sussex Cricket League – Gary Stanley & Daniel Oliver
Sussex Slam – Matt Camp
Sussex Cricket Foundation Junior Leagues / Sussex Junior Cricket Festival – Matt Parsons
Women & Girls Cricket – Gary Wallis-Tayler, Steve Pickup & Matt Parsons
 
As usual if you have any questions before the webinar please feed them through to Gary Wallis-Tayler gary.wallis-tayler@sussexcricket.co.uk

Meeting Details :-

Sussex Cricket is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Club Webinar - 8th July 2020
Time: Jul 6, 2020 07:30 PM London

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86305726655

Meeting ID: 863 0572 6655
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Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kegKNUeI8L

 Apologies for the short notice, but I hope you can all join us on Wednesday evening so we can get you all up and running for this coming weekend.
 
Many Thanks
 
Gary Wallis Tayler

Interim Head of Community Cricket
Sussex Cricket Foundation

Good Evening all,

Hopefully you have all seen the good news tonight regarding the return of recreational cricket from next weekend!

This is fantastic news and we are all excited about being able to now safely return to play. In We will in conjunction with The 1st Central Sussex Cricket League look to support you all over the coming days to ensure you have all the information necessary to return to play and in a safe environment.

Playing guidance is due to be released shortly and as soon as that is released we will ensure its sent to you immediately. We will also look to hold a Club Webinar next week to update you further and answer any questions that you have, details to follow on Monday.

Hope you all have great weekends and we can now look forward to playing as much cricket as we can for the remainder of the summer.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact me – gary.wallis-tayler@sussexcricket.co.uk

Many Thanks

Gary Wallis‑Tayler​

Interim Head of Community Cricket

Sussex Cricket Foundation

I sincerely hope this finds you all well at these challenging times.

Whilst I appreciate many of you will have been disappointed by the assessment of cricket’s readiness to return in match-form last week, the forthcoming relaxing of general social restrictions mean that we are getting closer and I wanted to write to you now to set out how The Slam will seek to help get as much cricket played as possible once the opportunity arises.

As per the rolling contingency plan issued some time ago, we are now past the last point that would see the competition run in a way that would crown a county champion and as such we now look to an alternative.

As such, as soon as the parameters within which matches can be played are known, an alternative proposal will be shared based on the following:

• Localised groups of either 4 or 6 teams to ensure no void weeks and minimal travel;
• All the existing player eligibility rules to ensure the primary objective of more cricket for more people;
• Open to ALL Sussex clubs and teams, not just those that had signed up to The Slam pre-lockdown;
• As far as possible accommodate nomadic teams by grouping them with teams who are able to host them, unfortunately it will not be possible to arrange pitches for nomadic under this truncated model;
• 1 match assigned per week, with freedom to mutually agree the day within that week so as to work around other ground commitments;
• Promotion of pragmatism between all teams to maximise playing time on midweek evenings in the later weeks of Summer.

After receiving the proposed format clubs will be given no more than a week to indicate their participation or not so as to enable group and fixture arrangement without further delay. Whether you choose to enter or not will have no bearing on participation next year or beyond. I fully appreciate that for some teams it just won’t be feasible to enter this year and in no way should they be penalised for that.

Match Balls

As you know I took the decision to halt the delivery of purchased match balls back in March because of both the significant escalation in courier costs and the unlikelihood of anyone actually needing the balls for some time. The last thing I want now is for us to be able to get matches on and you not having the balls you have paid for. As such the balls have now been shipped and the additional cost that still unfortunately exists shall be covered through the non-incurring of other costs due to the truncated season.

The match balls will be delivered to you as originally arranged and will be packaged personally by me wearing appropriate PPE to ensure that they are COVID-safe upon arrival with you. In the coming days I will contact those of you that gave business addresses for delivery to ensure that this remains the preferred destination.

The Slam rules around use of pink balls and used balls will continue to apply under the new formats so as to ensure efficient use of resources. Of course this will have to be in conjunction with whatever guidance is expected to be issued around ball sanitisation in due course.

Any balls left over come the end of the season can be used in 2021 assuming they are stored appropriately and are in match-worth condition next May.

What to do next

Please remain patient and safe, and for those of you already undertaking net and training sessions, please ensure you are doing so in line with the restrictions. As a community we stand a much better chance of getting back to matches sooner rather than later if we can clearly demonstrate that we can make a safe contribution to society now.

I look forward to writing to you, and all other Sussex clubs and teams, very soon setting out what The Slam can offer in what remains of the Summer.

With very best wishes,

Matt

Club Webinar 24-06-2020 from Sussex Cricket Foundation on Vimeo.

Dear Clubs,
 
I wrote to you on 9th June to advise that there was growing uncertainty around the prospect of beginning league cricket on 11th July. It was acknowledged that we needed to give you clarity on this 2-3 weeks in advance to allow for ground and other preparation, therefore I promised that we would make a further announcement by today. The options were: -

• Begin a half season of 'league' fixtures on 11th July, with all teams playing each other once, albeit without promotion and relegation and with considerable social distancing guidelines; this would only be possible if we had received clearance for recreational cricket to start and clear guidance around the form it would take,
• If this had not been received, advise you of our plans for cricket for the remainder of the summer.

You will doubtless have seen the 'Roadmap for the Return of Recreational Cricket' published by the ECB last week. The roadmap is a 5 Step plan to recreational cricket starting up again, with the current position being Step 3. The key piece of information required was the date at which we could go to Step 4, which was described as 'adapted gameplay'. Broadly speaking, this is cricket matches adapted to the Covid-19 environment. On the ECB call this week, it was made clear that two pieces of Government advice are required for the ECB to move the Step 4, being clearance for recreational team sport to recommence and an increase to at least 15 in the size of gatherings allowed (it is currently 6). Simply put, that has not happened yet and we do not expect it in the next week or so. Therefore, the Executive Committee cannot tell you today that league play will be able to start on 11th July and so we have no option but to abandon the 'half season' plan. In its place, we are going to offer the following options for our Clubs: -
 

1. We are putting together an 'August Cup' that is tailored to how we think Stage 4 is going to look. It will be based around shorter formats (likely T20), local matches (given the issues with car sharing) and social distancing measures on and off the pitch - the ECB are currently formulating guidance around Stage 4 and this will hopefully be available in final form around the end of June. We envisage groups of 6/7 teams (so 5/6 matches each), aligned by location and broad ability level, with a finals event for group winners in early September. Entry is entirely optional, it is simply our best effort to provide some meaningful competitive cricket in the circumstances we find ourselves in. Current plan is for the August Cup to start on 1st August, but this will need to flex based on when cricket can start.

2. If you are not interested in the August Cup, everyone has an existing set of league fixtures from 11th July that can be played as friendlies. They will stay on Play Cricket for ease of reference, but it will be up to you to arrange between you. Of course, these will also be in 'adapted play' format as and when that is allowed. If your scheduled fixture cannot be played because of travel distance or the opponent not wanting to play, we will try within reason to help you arrange alternate fixtures.

3. A mixture of the above or, if you wish, no cricket at all.

It is of course possible that, by 11th July, we will have clearance to play some cricket. However, everyone will have different lead in times for their ground to be ready. Some clubs could probably play tomorrow, others will require several weeks, especially those relying on local authorities. For some clubs, you might get some friendlies in July, perhaps before entering the August Cup. Others may wish not to play at all. The Executive Committee respects the wishes of all Clubs and recognises that you all have different circumstances.
 
So, next steps. In order to start formulating the August Cup, we need to know who would like to take part. The link below allows you to quickly advise us whether you want to enter, which of your teams will take part and whether you are concerned about your ability to play home matches by 1st August. We recognise that you may not be able to field all your XIs and you should discuss within your club to get an idea of member interest. Please respond via the link by Sunday 28th June. If you don't respond, we will assume that you are happy to play friendlies as and when permitted. If you are unable to access the link, please e-mail your responses to sussexcricketleague@sussexcricket.co.uk
 
August Cup Entry Form
 
Once we know how many teams are entering the August Cup, we will put more meat on the bones. More information will be provided on the Sussex Cricket Foundation Club Webinar on Wednesday 24th June from 7.30pm. We would encourage ALL clubs to dial in to hear key updates from Sussex Cricket & the ECB as we move steadily towards a return to play. As always there will be an opportunity to ask questions to any of our guests, in order to help us facilitate a Q & A and to ensure your question gets answered, please send them to Gary Wallis-Tayler in advance – gary.wallis-tayler@sussexcricket.co.uk Joining instructions to the webinar can be found below.


 So in summary: -

• No league season starting 11th July
• Group based Cup competition in August - optional
• League fixtures can still be played as friendlies when cricket returns. 
• Respond to the link provided by Friday 3rd July.

We will continue to update you as and when there is any change in circumstances. In the meantime, please continue to stay safe.
 
Kind Regards,
on behalf of the 1st Central Sussex Cricket League Executive Committee

We have identified five steps for the recreational game’s proposed phased return in England this summer.

England is currently in step 3 – which allows for small group training sessions of up to six people while respecting social distancing.

The Welsh government is due to review current restrictions on 18 June, after which time we will provide further guidance.

As cricket is a non-contact sport that involves individual disciplines within a team environment, forms of the game can be played while respecting social distancing. We will continue to be led by UK government advice and will only move into step 4 when the guidance allows and when it is medically safe to do so.

Dear Clubs,

As you'll be aware from my last update, the Executive Committee of the 1st Central Sussex Cricket League had put a plan in place to commence the 2020 season on 4th July and to play the second half of the league season. There have been various developments since then and you will have seen the announcement on Friday that small groups of up to six people may now net / practice together, which is a welcome step forward. However recreational cricket in organised game play format remains suspended until further notice and any relaxation of that is subject to Government and ECB guidance. 

The latest advice from the ECB last week indicated that a return to recreational cricket remains at least a month away. This suggests that 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 17th June. 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. Either way, we will let you know for certain by 19th June whether the SCL is going to begin as planned. From the feedback we've had from clubs and local authorities, that should be sufficient time to prepare pitches.

IF WE CAN STILL START IN JULY, the following decisions have been taken by the Exec, giving due consideration to your survey responses: -

• The T20 competitions have been cancelled for 2020. We have simply fallen too far behind to complete all the fixtures. Additionally, we would have been very unlikely to be able to play Finals Day at Hove.
• There will be no promotion or relegation in 2020. Your responses indicated that the majority of clubs felt there are too many moving parts to make promotion and relegation viable.
• We won't be continuing the season past the scheduled finish date. We had suggested this might work in the top two divisions, however there was not enough buy in from those clubs to pursue it. 
• With the cancellation of the T20, 4th July is left with just the 26 fixtures that had originally been scheduled for 2nd May. These are shown on the attached spreadsheet. We are assuming that some of the events that caused the fixtures to be moved originally are now not happening and we would like to move as many as possible back to the original date, to have a better chance of playing them. Therefore, if you are the club that requested the change, please advise whether the fixture can now be moved back to the original date. If not, it will stay on 4th July.
• We will be discussing the supply of cricket balls with Gray-Nicolls over the next week to ensure that they can service demand for an 11th July start.

IF WE CANNOT START IN JULY, we have identified two realistic options: -

• Play whatever matches are possible as friendlies based on the current fixture list, from whenever we are allowed to start.
• Organise some competitive cricket, tailored to the circumstances we will be in. This would broadly be a localised T20 group based competition played across August. The idea is that everyone would have 5/6 matches and there would be some kind of finals event at the end for the group winners. We will spend the next couple of weeks looking at the feasibility of this.

Whatever we do will be entirely optional. We understand and appreciate that many players and, in some cases, entire clubs will simply not want to play cricket this season.

In summary, the Exec is planning for both outcomes whilst still very much hoping for the first. As ever, if you have any questions please send them to sussexcricketleague@sussexcricket.co.uk. We will advise next steps by 19th June.

Kind Regards,

Gary.

UPDATED ECB Guidelines – please find below updated guidance just released from the ECB in regards to outdoor practice. Please ensure you read the guidance fully before you take the next steps in your outdoor practice sessions. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me – gary.wallis-tayler@sussexcricket.co.uk

Dear all,

We hope you were able to enjoy the bank holiday weekend. Below is the latest COVID-19 update which includes an update on the recreational game.

Recreational Game update

Last night the government confirmed that groups of six can meet outside from Monday June 1,  provided people from different households observe social distancing (staying 2m apart). This applies to England, with the First Minister of Wales today announcing that people from two different households in the same local area can meet outside.

While this is good news, it is not an immediate ‘go’ for organised team sports. We are having discussions with Sport England and DCMS about what this means specifically for cricket, to then understand how we can support our clubs to initiate plans to get people back playing cricket.

Yesterday ECB published guidance for the professional domestic season, which will not restart before 1 August.

Recreational cricket will work to a different timeline, but one that again, will be guided by changes to Government advice. We continue to work with DCMS to see its phased return, and it is our hope that we can provide opportunities to play to everyone this summer.

For now, the recreational game remains suspended with no cricket to be played with the sole exception of, in England, the ability to use outdoor cricket facilities (nets and pitches) for the purpose of undertaking exercise. You can access this guidance here. 

Like all fans of cricket, we wish to see our players, from every part of the game, safely return to the field as soon as possible. With the brilliant spell of weather, we have enjoyed lately, we too understand the immense frustration an absence of play is causing. Thank you all for your patience, as we, alongside everyone else in society, abide by the timelines we have been given by Government.

Updated Guidelines from the Grounds Management Association

The Grounds Management Association (GMA, formerly the Institute of Groundsmanship), working in partnership with the ECB, have recently updated their advice to those managing cricket grounds during COVID-19 lockdown. These updates are in response to the current weather, where we are in the growing season and recent updates from the ECB on The Use of Outdoor Cricket Facilities During Lockdown.

Key updates include reducing grass cut heights to help with sward density, managing irrigation on squares and avoiding dry rolling, spiking and deep scarification, all of which can cause problems on dry squares.

The advice is aimed at ground staff managing grounds at all clubs, schools and local authorities and is available here.

#Raisethebat - Celebrating our Cricket Heroes

Following the nominations that you have been sharing over the past few weeks, we are delighted to let you know about details of our Raise The Bat campaign which will be going live on Monday.

The campaign is intended to recognise and thank all key workers, but especially those within our cricket community who have laid down their bats to help us get through this difficult time. In honour of their dedication, we are encouraging the whole cricket community to raise their bats in tribute.

We are paying special tribute to a selection of nominees who have been recognised by our England teams. However, we know there are others out there who are doing amazing things and would like to use the campaign as an opportunity to identify more cricket-loving key workers and recognise them through your channels too.

The campaign will launch 10am on 1 June and run through to 8 July, appearing on outdoor media in key cities and across the ECB’s digital and social channels. We will be driving user-generated content across social channels through the use of the hashtag #raisethebat, asking people to recognise key workers they know and raise their bat to them.

From Monday, a selection of assets will be available to download from the ECB Resource Hub, and we will also upload a toolkit which shows the campaign objectives and creative, and provides more detail on how you can support this campaign across your own channels, including some key messaging to help.

Should you have any queries on this, please don’t hesitate to get in touch in the first instance with your County Board.

COVID-19 Support from NatWest

Whilst we’re waiting for cricket to return, if you’re looking for some new inspiration and support for home-schooling to keep young cricket fans and future players entertained, take a look at NatWest MoneySense Programme and MoneySense Monday’s for interactive fun whilst they’re at home.

NatWest MoneySense is a free, fun programme for children aged between 5 and 18 available online, we’ve even included a fun cricket puzzle for 8-12 year olds which you can view and download here, plus take a look at the new Island Saver game which you can also download.

Currently, every Monday morning, we’re live on NatWest Facebook and YouTube channels for an engaging and interactive lesson. NatWest MoneySense Monday’s live focuses on a different topic each week to help introduce finance at home. Take a look at a recent lesson where we had special guest Michael Vaughan and his daughter Jemima taking part in a fundraising task.

For more inspiration and support on home schooling your young cricket fans and future players, check out all the MoneySense sessions on our NatWest YouTube channel here.

Start your coaching journey today

Through iCoach Cricket you can access hundreds of games and practices for at home and the club. As we begin to think about when we might return there’s never been a better time to begin your coaching journey. The platform here provides regularly updated content including drills, training plans, and interviews to inspire and support you on your coaching journey.

Have a look at the latest additions below to provide some inspiration:

• Robbo’s garden
• One ball one bat
• Ladder, pipe, roof, mat, umbrella, coin and chair
• ECB LIVE! Interviews with Jane Powell & Ashley Giles

The guidelines stipulate there must be a club representative present during each booked session. What is a club representative?

The club representative is a person appointed by the club to undertake the role of managing the facility during a booked session. The person must understand the guidance, be familiar with the setup of the ground under COVID restrictions and emergency procedures. They should also be able to make arrangements to open toilets (if available).

The club, in appointing this person, must be sure that they can carry out the club’s operational duties which would apply under normal circumstance but also those additional duties under the COVID-19 guidelines and communicate the club’s conditions of booking, and if necessary control timings of activity if there is a mix up or people go beyond the allotted time. The club should identify such persons and maintain a list of these people who have agreed to and are appointed to carry out this role.

A representative can participate in a session or run a number of sessions within a continuous series (such as a coach who is an appointed representative and can carry out those duties safely), there is no requirement for a ‘third’ person in those circumstances.

We know the FA guidance has caused some contradiction and possible confusion in relation to 1-1 coaching:

1 to 1 coaching is very much subject to interpretation. ECB are aware that 1 to 1 coaching is practised in open environments, where other people are occupying for the use of training. For example a bowling coach is working with one bowler, separately a batting coach is using the same open facilities working with another young person. This would be considered a safe and open environment that would mitigate the risk. The relationship between the coach and the player, is the key to this and maintaining those professional boundaries during training and away from training. This cannot be looked at in isolation, safeguarding is more than a single set of practices. Creating a safe environment where people can share concerns mitigates a lot of risks. Encouraging situations where coaches are placed at risk of allegations, is not what we are looking to do by allowing 1 to 1 coaching. Coaches should be constantly assessing their professional boundaries and ensuring their actions could not be subject to allegations of poor practice.  This should be no different during COVID.

FAQ's

Last week we produced detailed guidance on how clubs and individuals can use cricket facilities while undertaking exercise in an outdoor cricket club environment.

Off the back of publishing that guidance we received a number of questions. Below are the most commonly asked questions and our answers.

In addition to the questions below, we’re working hard to answer all enquiries via email.

Please do contact your local County Cricket Board if you have any additional enquiries, or email enquiries@ecb.co.uk.

To read the guidance in full, click here.

To read our COVID-19 FAQs, click here.

Further advice is available at the GOV.UK and Sport England websites. Please regularly check these sites and the updated ECB guidance as this policy position is likely to change over time and could also become more regionalised and localised as time progresses.

The guidelines stipulate there must be a club representative present during each booked session. What is a club representative?

The club representative is a person appointed by the club to undertake the role of managing the facility during a booked session. The person must understand the guidance, be familiar with the setup of the ground under COVID restrictions and emergency procedures. They should also be able to make arrangements to open toilets (if available).

The club, in appointing this person, must be sure that they can carry out the club’s operational duties which would apply under normal circumstances - but also those additional duties under the COVID-19 guidelines.

The club must also be sure this person can communicate the club’s conditions of booking, and if necessary control timings of activity if there is a mix up or people go beyond the allotted time. The club should identify such persons and maintain a list of these people who have agreed to and are appointed to carry out this role.

A representative can participate in a session or run a number of sessions within a continuous series (such as a coach who is an appointed representative and can carry out those duties safely), there is no requirement for a ‘third’ person in those circumstances.

The facilities check-list mentions an individual health and safety checklist, is this something we need to provide?

No. There is no need for an individual health and safety checklist. What the club should do is reiterate Government guidance that individuals who are symptomatic, living in a household with a possible COVID-19 infection or are classified as extremely vulnerable on health grounds should remain at home .

Can a coach work with different individuals from other households across separate sessions?

Yes. One individual from one household can use the facilities with one individual from another household, as long as social distancing measures are followed. In this instance, Coach X could work with Person A in one session and could then work with Person B in a separate session. The Government guidance states: “If you are a personal trainer/coach you can now work with clients outdoors, providing you are alone and only meeting with one person from outside of your household, outdoors, and you are staying a minimum of two metres apart. You can meet with different clients in a single day as long as it is only via one-to-one sessions and you are maintaining social distancing.”

Do clubs need to provide a First Aid kit?

As per the original guidance, clubs should ensure that they continue to comply with all health and safety requirements including having access to first aid and any appropriate emergency equipment (in some cases this may require limited access to the clubhouse).

Please see attached the approved guidance for cricket clubs in relation to the latest government announcements – as well as supporting infographic. 

Please note, this guidance is provided to support the advice of government and medical experts, as well as to offer practical guidance to players and clubs on the steps they should take to remain safe whilst undertaking exercise in an outdoor cricket club environment. Equally, no club should reopen their outdoor facilities if they feel unable to meet the requirements.

Our cricket delivery remains suspended until further notice, this includes all of our community programmes e.g. Street Cricket. At this stage we remain unsure as to when our Street Cricket programmes will resume, but we continue to monitor Government advice and as soon as its safe to do so we will restart all programmes.

In the meantime to keep children engaged in our programmes and in Cricket/Sport please find below some useful activities that may help with this:

• Chance to Shine Street Cricket – Chance to Shine, who fund our Street Cricket programmes have created a page on their website full of activities, quizzes, events that children (and parents!) can get involved with. To find out more please visit the Chance to Shine website - https://www.chancetoshine.org/street-at-home

• Sussex Cricket Activity Booklet – Sussex Cricket & the Sussex Cricket Foundation have launched a children’s activity booklet to help keep children informed, entertained and engaged during this challenging period. The booklet can be downloaded from our website, please can you forward on to your Junior Coordinators for them to send out to junior members at your clubs – https://sussexcricket.co.uk/sites/default/files/file-downloads/sussex_cricket_childrens_activity_book.pdf

• Specsavers Virtual Sussex School Games – This summers Sussex School Games has been cancelled due to the ongoing issues regarding Covid-19. It has been replaced by the Virtual Sussex School Games which started last week. The competition runs over 11 weeks, with eleven different sports, one of which will be cricket. Children (and parents) can sign up FREE of charge to take part where they will be scoring points for schools that they represent. For further details and how to sign up please visit our website - https://sussexcricket.co.uk/news/virtual-sussex-schools-games-begin-monday-27-april or look on the Active Sussex website - https://www.activesussex.org/virtual/

• Social Media – follow the following social media platforms to keep up to date on developments, skill challenges, general activities:
  • Sussex Cricket Twitter - @SussexCCC
  • Sussex Cricket Foundation Twitter - @SussexCricketFD
  • Chance to Shine Twitter - @Chance2Shine
  • Sussex School Games Twitter - @SxSchoolGames
  • Active Sussex Twitter - @ActiveSussex
  • Sussex Cricket Instagram - @sussexccc
  • Sussex Cricket Foundation Instagram – @sussexcricketfoundation
  • Chance to Shine Instagram - @chance_to_shine
  • Sussex School Games Instagram - @sussexschgames
  • www.sussexcricket.co.uk; www.chancetoshine.org; www.activesussex.org

For queries relating to street cricket please contact gary.wallis-tayler@sussexcricket.co.uk

Junior Leagues & SJCF

Update: 5th May 2020

Junior Leagues inc. Girls Leagues, Sussex Junior Cricket Festival & Competitions – as per the statement attached sent on 24th March (below) we are heading towards Stage 2 of the process where a further update will be provided at the start of June. The ECB Competition programmes e.g. U13 & U15 National Cups & ECB U19 T20 remain suspended until further notice.

Junior League Statement 24th March 2020

The intention and aim for all those involved in junior league cricket, the SJCF and all of Sussex Cricket is to ensure that when it is safe and allowed to start, the cricket season will give the opportunity for maximum participation for both boys and girls, of all ages.

However, we are mindful of government guidelines on social distancing and group gatherings and as such need to ensure that 1-day festival events, larger cluster competitions and any form of larger scale activity is entirely within what the recommendations allow.

At this stage, we are still currently planning to run the SCF U9/10 softball 6-a-side competition, ECB U13 and U15 National knockout competitions, ECB U19 T20, girls softball U10, U11 and U13 events and the boys County Champions League. However, we will hold off sending round the specifics of these until we know more about how the summer will look.

The link through which to order league balls will remain ‘live’ but it is strongly suggested that clubs hold fire on ordering their league balls for the time being. Those who have already placed their order will have it processed but understandably this won’t be done in the immediate future.

In regards the four regionally organised leagues, for both boys and girls, it has been agreed to implement and follow the following 3-stage plan:

STAGE 1

If recreational cricket is able to resume at any stage prior to Monday the 1st of June, all junior fixtures and competitions will be played as planned. Any matches or organised events prior to the 1st of June resumption that haven’t been able to be played will simply be cancelled and not counted towards any competitions or leagues, unless re-arranged between the clubs themselves, in accordance with each of the regional Committees.

Providing matches are started by the 1st of June, all leagues will be recognised as such and league places awarded at the end of the season, based on the fixtures that get played (U12 upwards).

If the start date is after the 1st of June, Stage 2 will come into effect:

STAGE 2a – If the SJCF continues

If the annual age group weeks of competition for the SJCF do go ahead as planned and there is scope to run them as they ordinarily would, the SJCF will provide the ‘competition’ element to the 2020 season and all surviving junior league fixtures will become friendlies. They will be played in the same way they would have been without any changes, but the results and tables wouldn’t be published as league competition.

STAGE 2b – If the SJCF doesn’t run

If the age group weeks of competition for the SJCF can’t go ahead or be delivered as they ordinarily would, all fixtures from the point at which the season starts will be played as planned.

Any fixtures that were cancelled or not played prior to the start date of fixtures will be added onto the end of the original fixture list, using the weeks of what would have been the SJCF to complete the full calendar of matches.

Each individual league Committee will guide clubs on how this will look and there may need to be ‘double headers’ and/or two matches a week in order to ensure a full list of matches is completed.

At this stage the SJCF can’t make a final decision on whether they can offer the usual weeks of age group competition, as the decision on when the school holidays will/won’t take place is unclear.

STAGE 3 – Irrespective of whether the SJCF runs

If recreational cricket is not able to start until the w/c 6th of July or later, all matches that are left in the calendar will be played as friendlies, any leagues will not be published or league places awarded this season and clubs will be asked to organise additional friendlies best they can with their local neighbours.

As a County and in conjunction with the four regional set ups, we will look to support clubs to do this and provide contact lists and club details.

It goes without saying that 2020 will be a very different and unique summer for all clubs but it’s essential that wherever possible we maintain the fantastic levels of participation and opportunity we have within Sussex.

The All Stars and Dynamo’s initiatives will inevitably be affected by the ongoing challenges as well, but discussions around the ways in which these programmes may change are ongoing with the ECB and we’ll ensure you’re kept fully up to speed as and when decisions are made.

All four regional leagues, the SJCF and Sussex Cricket will work closely together to ensure this happens and with all our clubs support we can ensure that junior cricket is ready to go, as and when it’s safe to do so.

All ongoing updates will be published via the following link and your Territory Manager is still on hand to support you with anything else you need.

https://sussexcricket.co.uk/community-cricket

Please read an important update below on The 1st Central Sussex Cricket League regarding the latest plans for the 2020 season. This email also contains a short SURVEY which requires your URGENT ATTENTION

Dear Clubs,

When I wrote to you on 9th April, it was to confirm that we had moved to Stage 2 of our plan, which contemplated a potential return to cricket in June subject to developments in the meantime. I also said that would advise you further by 8th May. 

You will all have seen the recent ECB announcements that no pro cricket would take place before 1st July and that recreational cricket remains suspended indefinitely. Therefore, it will likely come as no surprise that the SCL Executive Committee has concluded that we must now move to Stage 3 of our plan. The earliest possible date for SCL cricket is now Saturday 4th July. As I said last time, this is an aspirational date that remains dependent upon Government and ECB guidance. However, if we are able to start on 4th July: -

• We will play the second half of the season as scheduled, beginning on 11th July, with everybody playing each other once. This means nine matches in 10 team divisions, eight in 9 team divisions.
• 4th July will be used to play the 26 matches, originally scheduled in the second half of the season, that were moved to 2nd May, in order that those teams have an equal number of matches to everyone else. 
• 4th July would also be used to play Rounds 1 and 2 of the T20 competitions. which will obviously have fallen behind. We will need to utilise a couple of extra Sundays in July and August to catch up.
• Please do not do anything with your Play Cricket fixtures, they will be cancelled / moved by the League Admin team. Please also continue to hold off ordering balls, Gray-Nicolls are still working with a skeleton staff and there will be enough time to buy them closer to July.

Now that we have some time to plan, we would like your feedback on a few important questions via the above mentioned survey, which can be found here https://s.surveyplanet.com/p2Vq-ZGVw - PLEASE RESPOND VIA THE SURVEY AND NOT TO THIS E-MAIL. Please take the survey asap and by 31st May at the latest. You will probably want to discuss within your club before completing, so for ease of reference the questions in the survey are below: -

1. There are three options that we see for Promotion and Relegation, based on nine (or eight in some divisions) scheduled matches. Please let us know which you prefer for EACH of your teams (you may have different views about different levels): -
   1. Normal P/R as per current rules
   2. No P/R as season is too short
   3. Still some P/R but reflecting the shorter season. Perhaps one up / one down where there would normally be two, or something similar.
2. Do you believe that your ground / wicket will be playable for a 4th or 11th July start? If no, please provide details of the issues you think you will face and we will try to help.
3. It is unfortunately a fact that many clubs have to give their grounds over to football in September and therefore we cannot simply extend the season for the whole league. However, this may be an option at the very top, where clubs will have control over their own grounds. If you are in either the Premier or Division 2, please advise whether you think playing until the end of September would work for you.
4. Do you foresee any problems concerning player / umpire / scorer engagement when we return to cricket? This includes those that may still be isolating due to coronavirus and/or concerned about social distancing (see below).

​As and when we are able to start playing cricket, it's clear that there will need to be some social distancing measures in place, be it around changing rooms / tea provision or on the pitch. We will of course react to the guidance available at the time and will let you know accordingly. 

Those of you playing at the top four levels will have been sent a facilities review request by the  Regulations & Playing Conditions sub-committee. About two thirds have not yet replied to this important piece of work, so if you are one of them please respond asap (to the original e-mail not this one!).
 

Lastly, please look out for the excellent support being provided by SCF and make use of it. There will be a second Club webinar on 13th May which you'll be told more about nearer the time. You are very much encouraged to attend.
 

Stay safe.

Kind Regards,

Gary Stanley

Chair

The safety and wellbeing of all people involved in cricket is our absolute priority and so whilst we continue to work through solutions, All Stars and Dynamos Cricket remain suspended for the time being in line with government guidance.  We will do everything we can to run programmes later in the year should the government guidance allow us to do so and we will remain in touch with any updates as and when they are available. If the situation means we are unable to reschedule programmes for a later date, we will ensure that refunds or credits are available for participants.

We know that cricket can play a huge part in supporting physical and mental wellbeing of children around the country and we are continuing to explore ways that we can bring cricket to homes through indoor games, challenges, and digital content.  Some of this you may have already seen via our All Stars Cricket activity booklet, our All Stars garden games, and keep an eye out for the Dynamos Cricket app, and educational content coming your way shortly. 

Our aim is to do what’s best for our community throughout this unusual period and appreciate your support to do the same. This is new territory for all of us, and we appreciate your patience during this time.

If you have any questions please don't hesitate to contact the ECB help desk or email gary.wallis-tayler@sussexcricket.co.uk

Safeguarding update from the ECB - 29th April 2020

Cricket is a game that unites communities and inspires generations and more than ever it has a role to play in this uncertain and unsettling COVID-19 time.

As we continue to work towards delivering Inspiring Generations, we must ensure that the game is sustainable and that we mitigate against other risks that the game faces. When cricket returns, we expect more players, volunteers, clubs and officials to be taking part that ever before. The introduction of the online Safe Hands Online Management System will strengthen our network and continue to make cricket a safe game for young people, their families and all those around them to enjoy. 

When cricket returns, in a post-COVID-19 time, we will be launching the initiatives below and we will keep you updated on these as they go live.
SAFE HANDS ONLINE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
This system will provide an online registration process whereby the ECB will require all cricket clubs to register the details of the club and individuals in key roles or those with responsibilities for the management and running of club activities.

Clubs will be asked to complete basic details about their club and who are the key personnel within it, providing evidence of safeguarding checks and compliance. It will then notify users if there are any current gaps in the requirements, together with highlighting individual’s renewal dates for the key criteria such as DBS checks and Safe Hands training,.

As part of the registration process, clubs will be required to demonstrate that they continue adhere to the following:

•    All clubs must meet safeguarding standards.
•    The club must adhere to the ECB Safe Hands Policy and Procedures. 
•    Each club must have a trained Club Welfare Officer.  
•    All adults who work with children at the club have must have current vetting and an ECB DBS check in place. 
•    All adults who work with children in cricket must have undertaken the appropriate ECB training. Details will be shared in due course.  

We will also make it easier for those who need to have DBS checks, safeguarding training and other qualifications to access everything they need. 

What this means for Clubs:
The online registration process will apply to both Clubmark and non-Clubmark clubs and we will roll out registration in a phased approach with three groups in the following order of priority

1.    Existing Clubmark accredited clubs
2.    Clubs with junior sections (including All Stars Cricket & Dynamos Cricket), and those clubs who allow juniors to play adult cricket. 
3.    All remaining clubs

We will email clubs individually when registration is available. Where clubs have already given us some information, we will look to pre-populate the fields in order that you do not have to re-enter it.

GAME WIDE INSURANCE
We are delighted to announce we have partnered with Howden Insurance Brokers to arrange a Combined Liability Insurance package for the benefit of clubs who have registered all details on the Safe Hands online portal and completed an online risk assessment. The policy covers Public Liability, Employers Liability, Professional Indemnity, Directors & Officers and Cyber Liability.Click here to learn more about what this insurance specifically includes.

In this period before Safe Hands registration opens, we recommend that clubs continue with their current provider. If your insurance is up for renewal, Howden will be happy to discuss options with you.

CLUB CRICKET CHARITY AND DEFIBRILLATORS
The Club Cricket Charity and ECB are delighted to announce that the Second Phase of its Defibrillator Supply project is now available to cricket clubs and organisations. The Club Cricket Charity is the charitable arm of the National Cricket Conference.

The offer is for the supply of a portable AED unit at a cost of £500, or, if required, the unit and a self-monitoring mounted cabinet for £915. The Club Cricket Charity will pay the difference on behalf of ECB. This highly discounted offer includes training, insurance cover for loss or damage as well as personal liability, stress counselling post event, and registration with local emergency services.

The offer is fulfilled by The Community Heartbeat Trust under their ‘Managed Solution’ scheme which was successfully deployed during 2018 with 104 clubs and teams receiving portable units.
A cardiac arrest (the stoppage of the heart muscle) can be triggered by many factors: a heart attack; an undiagnosed heart condition; a ball hitting batsman or fielder in the chest or on the head. It can affect any age group from teenage to pensioner, and all between; player and spectator alike. This can be fatal if treatment is not commenced within five minutes of the collapse of the patient. 
Many cricket teams play on cricket fields where professional help may not arrive within this very short timescale, but there is a potential solution by using the portable defibrillator - which gives an electric shock to ‘reboot’ the heart - whilst awaiting professional help. 

The wall mounted cabinet is the latest design which automatically monitors and remotely reports the readiness of the unit for use while also recording its usage.

We all hope that this piece of equipment never needs to be used, but there is ample evidence that it saves lives.   

To reply to this offer please initially send a request for an application form to enquiries@theclubcricketcharity.org giving the name of your club and its rough location. The process should take no more than three weeks to fulfil for delivery, then an appointment will be arranged for the training session.

Thank you to everyone that took part in our first webinar. It was great to see so many faces from clubs across Sussex. You can download a copy of the presentation below and we will be uploading a recording as soon as that becomes available.

If you attended we would really appreciate your feedback by completing our very quick survey - https://s.surveyplanet.com/ikbgB0RZL

Dear All,

Ever since the COVID-19 crisis began, the ECB has been working to minimise the impact of this unprecedented situation on cricket in England and Wales.

We are acutely aware of the concern felt at all levels of the game about the financial implications of the suspension of cricket because of the virus.

We know you are worried about the effect on your club. You may have invested in new facilities that will now sit idle. Perhaps you were preparing for All Stars and Dynamos Cricket programmes that will now be delayed.

There will be sadness about missing out on the value that cricket brings to a local community by bringing people together through a shared love of the game. You may also be concerned about the impact a shortened season will have on your club finances.

I am writing to you today to let you know that we have put in place an interim support package for clubs at every level of the game, to help see you through the coming months.

We’re making available an extra budget of just over £20million to the recreational game. We anticipate that this support will be accessible for relevant cricket clubs and leagues within the next two weeks.

This support can be accessed in the following ways:

• A cricket club support loan scheme, with a 12-month repayment holiday

• Grants to recreational clubs through the “Return to Cricket” scheme

This is part of a £61m package of measures to support the whole sport. The ECB Board has approved plans to bring forward payments from a number of areas in its 2020-2021 planned distribution budgets.

There are also a range of other financial support packages that are available to recreational sport and we encourage local clubs and leagues to investigate their eligibility for these, which are available immediately subject to meeting the respective criteria.

These include, but are not limited to:

• Government initiatives: Business Rates holiday, Job Retention Scheme, VAT deferral, Statutory Sick Pay Rebate, HMRC Time to Pay Scheme, Business Interruption Loan Scheme;
• Sport England: incl. £20M Community Emergency Fund
• Sport Wales Emergency Relief Fund.

Please note there are criteria and conditions to support these initiatives available via the relevant websites.

In accordance with Government advice, the start of the cricket season has been delayed until further notice with a range of options for cricket to begin later in the summer being modelled.

We recognise that this situation is a long way from being resolved. We will continue to work with you to understand and help you meet the challenges you face. I want to thank everyone across cricket who is working tirelessly during this period of uncertainty. I understand how difficult a time this is for you.

Please be assured that all of us at the ECB and across the County network will keep supporting you so that together we can overcome this challenge to the game we all love.

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) today announced a £61 million package to help cricket withstand the financial impact of COVID-19.

The plans detail a number of measures for the whole sport from elite to grassroots, including the MCC, the First-Class Counties (FCCs) and their County Cricket Boards (CCBs). Local cricket clubs will also be offered support to see them through the coming months.

In accordance with Government advice the start of the cricket season has been delayed until at least 28 May. A range of options for cricket to begin in June, July or August are currently being modelled.

With revenues impacted across the game – from both cricket and non-cricket activities, the ECB Board today approved plans to expedite payments from a number of areas within its 2020-2021 planned distribution budgets. 

Around £40m will be made immediately available through:

• Early release of three months’ (May-July) county partnership distributions to FCCs and CCBs
• The immediate availability of two years’ facilities maintenance distribution
  • Funds available unfettered and not restricted to facilities maintenance expenditure
  • A further £5.5m to be made available for counties who are not eligible for 2020-2021 ordinary facilities maintenance distributions
• Suspension of international staging fees for four months and waiving of international staging fees payable in 2020 if the match is not played as scheduled due to COVID-19

An extra budget of just over £20m will become available to the recreational game through a cricket club support loan scheme, grants through the “Return to Cricket” scheme and a 12-month holiday on loan repayments for recreational clubs.

Tom Harrison, chief executive officer of the ECB, said: "We would like to thank everyone within the cricket network who is working tirelessly to protect the game during this period of uncertainty.

"We understand these are challenging times and it has been our priority to provide swift and immediate support to all members of the cricket family at every level in England and Wales.

"We are fully aware that the situation with COVID-19 will continue to develop, and it will be months before the full financial fallout is made clear. We will continue work with all of our partners to protect the ongoing health of the entire game in the short term and beyond."

Sport England are making up to £195 million of funding available to help the sport and physical activity sector through the ongoing coronavirus (Covid-19) crisis.

READ MORE

Following the note from the ECB (found here https://ecb-comms.co.uk/t/1FT6-6SKA2-2E2203387/cr.aspx) outlining that in the immediate short term future all community cricket sessions including training and pre-season friendlies should be postponed, we wanted to update you as to what this means in Sussex. 

Based on the advice from the ECB, Chance to Shine, Lord's Taverners alongside the Government we have taken the decision to suspend all delivery of the Sussex Cricket Foundation. While this decision has not been taken lightly, we must work to reduce the risk and impact of coronavirus of our participants, staff and the wider community. 

During this time of uncertainty, the Sussex Cricket Foundation team are all on hand to support local cricket and communities as best we can. Whether that be our community coaches doing some shopping for some of your more vulnerable club members or a phone call just to chat about cricket for twenty minutes, our team are on hand to do so. Please get in contact with your territory manager or foundation@sussexcricket.co.uk if this would be a useful service to you. Your Territory Manager (contact details below) is also available to help with any club development planning remotely and will be happy to answer any questions that you have about this situation as it develops. 

We know you will have questions on the implications for the broader cricket season, including league cricket, and as we have more information from Government and the ECB we will be in a better place to make a decision on this. We remain firmly of the belief that cricket plays a key role in supporting the nation during this tough time. 

1. North Area: matt.parsons@sussexcricket.co.uk

2. South Area: gary.wallis-tayler@sussexcricket.co.uk

3. West Area: carl.tupper@sussexcricket.co.uk

4. East Area: hamish.russell@sussexcricket.co.uk

The following statement below and the guidance notes is a collaboration between Professor Nick Pierce (ECB Chief Medical Officer), David Newman (ECB Emergency Care Coordinator) and Andy MacKay (ECB Pitch and Grounds Advisor). In this instance, the advice relates ground staff performing essential work, both paid and volunteer.

Counties are asked to consider the content of this advice and distribute the statement and the guidance through your cricket channels to all those who may maintain cricket grounds, signposting facilities@ecb.co.uk as a place where any enquiries can be sent.

I would like to thank you personally for your support and patience as we work through solutions and we will continue to update you as frequently as possible. 

Re: Women’s Leagues & Soft Ball Festivals

Following the ECB’s recent announcement regarding the suspension of all recreational cricket, we have made a decision on how we should proceed with our women’s cricket offering across Sussex. At this stage, we must stress that it is the absolute priority of Sussex Cricket that the health and wellbeing of everybody involved in the game is protected, this includes players, officials and any volunteers. Every decision that has been made and will be made in the future, has this as the priority.

With the unprecedented situation we are in and the ECB’s announcement last week, we have put a timeline together to deal with any changes we may have to make for this seasons women’s league cricket. We will make sure we provide as much cricket as possible while following the guideline from the ECB.

Our timeline for the women’s hardball leagues (T20 & Sussex 35 over) is detailed below:

Stage 1:

If by Friday 17th April we have more information and the season for T20 & 35 over leagues cannot begin when the first fixtures are scheduled on 10th May, we will cancel all scheduled fixtures in May. This will allow us to use any information we have to put us in a position to make further decisions.

Stage 2:

If we are unable to resume cricket at the beginning of June, then we will look to adapt the season for both T20 & 35 over, for teams to play each other once. This will allow us to get league results within the cut off times, so that we can keep the date for the Women’s T20 semi-final/final date.

We are still waiting on current information from the Women’s Cricket Southern League (WCSL) with regards to their strategy on league fixtures and the play offs in September which may have an effect on our 35 over league winners.

Please note that the above stages are not set in stone and could potentially change depending upon guidance sent from the ECB.

Women’s Soft Ball Cricket Festivals

Over the next few weeks, we will be putting together a calendar of Women’s Soft Ball Cricket Festivals, focusing on the ability to deliver excellent, well attended festivals. Bearing in mind the shorter time frame we will have to deliver these, we will likely ask local clubs to collaborate on a smaller number of festivals, spread across Sussex. Sharing the planning, marketing and delivery of fewer festivals will enable us to increase attendance, build stronger Women’s Cricket networks between clubs, pool resources and offer valuable experience to clubs who will host their first festivals in 2021. Whilst we know this will be disappointing for some who planned to host this year, we will be encouraging everyone to work together towards our shared goal, increasing women’s participation in Sussex. The list of clubs who will host this summer has not been put together yet and there are many factors to take into account so Lara Johnson (our new women’s softball lead) will be in touch shortly to discuss your club’s position.

Women’s Soft Ball Cricket League

League fixtures were added to Play-Cricket early last week, however, since a lot changed last week, we have made the decision to delay the start date to mid-June. These will be amended this week and a full fixture list will be sent to your club’s contact, along with some basic rules and guidance on arranging fixtures. Should we later find that we need to delay further, Lara will keep you informed.

We are hopeful that the above timelines allow us to have a plan ready to go if and when we need to and allows us to make any adjustments or changes where necessary.

If you have any questions, please contact: gary.wallis-tayler@sussexcricket.co.uk

Despite schools and some leisure centres still being open, we have taken the decision to cancel all pathway coaching sessions. This is in light of last night’s government announcement, and in particular the advice for everyone to stop non-essential contact with others. We would therefore suggest strongly that it would be perfectly sensible for clubs to cancel any winter training sessions that you might currently have planned. For queries relating to pathway cricket steve.pickup@sussexcricket.co.uk

ECB Association of Cricket Officials has created a range of free online courses for aspiring umpires and scorers. The courses are a great way for people to use the current downtime to learn a new skill or brush up on their knowledge

Basics of Umpiring – This course is aimed at umpires who simply want to learn the fundamental laws and basic field craft and those players who umpire 5 or 10 overs at the weekend. Book now here.

Umpire Stage One – This course is designed to give an overview of the basic Laws of the game as well as providing information on how to apply them and introduce the principles of field craft and match management. This course is an ideal introduction for new club umpires, a refresher for existing umpires and the first step for those who aspire to umpire at higher levels. Book now here.

Basics of Scoring – This course is designed to provide all the skills needed to start scoring. The course covers the basics of scoring a game of cricket such as scoring symbols, umpire signals, dismissals and gives a helpful overview of the laws of the game. Book now here.

Where possible we would encourage you to advertise these courses on your county board website and promote through your social media channels using the registration links provided.

If you have any queries, please contact Karen Cassidy or Martin Gentle. Alternatively please contact our generic email address here.

For queries relating to Coach education please contact steve.pickup@sussexcricket.co.uk

All sessions are now cancelled. We will let you know when these will resume. We have arranged weekly phone calls from our volunteers to people who attend  our Sporting Memories sessions to check in on them and talk to them about whatever is needed. We are also sending the weekly "pinks" in the post. The Sporting Pink is a weekly printed publication that we use at our Clubs to introduce fun activities and help stimulate sporting memories. It contains articles, quizzes, a sports diary and more. If you'd like to receive a call or sporting pinks please contact steve.pickup@sussexcricket.co.uk 

All sessions are now cancelled. We will let you know when these will resume. For queries relating to walking cricket please contact foundation@sussexcricket.co.uk

All sessions are now cancelled. We will let you know when these will resume.  For queries relating to disability cricket please contact  steve.pickup@sussexcricket.co.uk

All sessions are now cancelled. We will let you know when these will resume. For queries relating to girls cricket please contact steve.pickup@sussexcricket.co.uk

Primary Schools:

As all of our Foundation Team have been placed on ‘furlough leave’ we will not be in a position to deliver any cricket in schools and/or community until after May half term at the earliest. Therefore, any schools where we have booked in Chance to Shine sessions, SSP sessions, after school clubs will have to be postponed until further notice. Any competitions, festivals or our Sussex Schools Day that you have signed up for, a decision on these will be made after Easter once have further guidance from the Government and the England & Wales Cricket Board.

Secondary Schools:

As all of our Foundation Team have been placed on ‘furlough leave’ we will not be in a position to deliver any cricket in schools and/or community until after May half term at the earliest. Therefore, any schools where we have booked in sessions for our Girls Chance to Shine Programme will have to be postponed until further notice.

Competitions – The English Schools Cricket Association have postponed all national competitions this summer. With cricket activity currently suspended we have taken the decision to also postpone our County & State School Cup competitions due to take place this summer. I will continue to review this and if we are in a position to run anything later this summer then we will certainly look into it. A decision regarding the girls leagues/festivals will be made after Easter once we have received further guidance from the ECB & the Government.

Any questions regarding schools cricket please contact Gary Wallis-Tayler gary.wallis-tayler@sussexcricket.co.uk