Northants coach Ripley backs 'decisive' ECB and feels 'saving the white ball formats' is crucial for cricket

The Northants head coach says he would also support the prioritising of white-ball cricket when and if the campaign does get underway, believing it is imperative to 'protect the income of the game' with the funds the Vitality T20 Blast and The Hundred will be able to generate.

Speaking after revealing the playing operation at the County Ground has effectively been 'shut down' for the next four weeks, Ripley also opened up on his serious concerns on how damaging this Covid-19 pandemic could be to the sport he loves.

The domestic season was due to start on April 12, but when asked about the decision to postpone the opening seven rounds of the Specsavers County Championship, Ripley said: "The ECB had no alternative.

"It was an early decision, decisive, and I do think that saving the white ball formats is the most important thing for the game, because it is about protecting its income.

"Unfortunately, county championship cricket isn't going to fit into that model.

"In the best case scenario, we might get some first-class friendlies, perhaps through September, but the best way of looking at it is to protect the income, protect the Sky television revenue, because we need that lifeline in these difficult financial times."

The escalation of the coronavirus crisis, and the speed of it, has taken everybody by surprise, and it is hard to believe that a little more than a week ago, Northants were in Asia, playing a T20 match against Singapore Cricket Club as part of their pre-season training camp.

The squad opted to fly home early and came back last Tuesday, but events have continued to gather at pace every day, culminating in the effective national lockdown announced by Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday night.

And, just like everybody else, Ripley is finding it hard to adjust.

He also admits the uncertainty surrounding the pandemic, and what it means for cricket in the short and long term is unsettling.

"I like my plans, I like to know what I am doing, when I am doing it, and I am finding that difficult as an individual," said the 53-year-old.

"I can't quite get my head around the uncertainty, but it branches out from that as well.

"I don't know if this is on the agenda, but will there be salary cuts? What will happen with the Sky TV money? There is the lost revenue from our T20 Blast home games if they are not played.

"They are the big things and everybody in the game is just a little uncertain about it all.

"It is tough, and that is the big picture stuff."

Cricket chiefs, and sport administrators in general, are clinging on to the hope that sport will be able to get back to something like normality as quickly as possible.

Ripley knows there is no point in predicting when things will return to normal, but using the situation in China, where the virus first emerged on December 31, 2019, as a yardstick, he does look forward with some hope.

"I am not sure of the timescale, but you look at China and they seem to be just coming down the other side of it after three horrendous months," he said

"So in the UK, if we were lucky and we have two tough months before we start turning the corner, then we might just sneak in a July, August, September season, and that is the hope I am clinging to.

"I am hopeful that is going be the case for our game, because this is not about me, or us at Northants, it is about the game.

"There is a lot of income that the game is missing and it is going to need quite a lot of debate, discussion and creative working to minimise the impact."