Northants waiting for 'green light' from the ECB as players close in on County Ground return

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic there has been no cricket played as yet this summer, and the England & Wales Cricket Board have already announced the domestic season will not be getting underway until August 1 at the very earliest.

The County players have been on furlough since the end of March and have been keeping their fitness up at home, but they could soon be back and in training at the County Ground again.

A number of process and infrastructure changes have already been implemented at Wantage Road, with more being finalised.

Northants are following the guidance set out by the club's chief medical officer Bill Ribbans, who said: "I’ve been working closely with both the club and ECB medical staff over the past few weeks to ensure the correct safety measures and protocols are in place to enable a safe return to training for the players.

"These procedures have been refined and along with the correct PPE that the club have in place, I believe the club are in a position to welcome a safe return to training for all players and coaching staff, as soon as they receive the green light from the ECB and Government.”

Plans for what sort of season will be played if that green light is given has yet to be revealed, and the ECB are considering a range of fixture and competition options.

They include a regional first-class competition, the playing of the Vitality T20 Blast in full, and some sort of 50-over competition as well, and Northants chief executive Ray Payne admits they are working with all possible options in mind.

"In terms of what future matches could look like this year, it feels like we’ve got plans for just about every letter of the alphabet at this stage," said Payne.

"My feeling has always been the same, we want to play as much cricket as we still can this year, whether that’s four-day or T20 or 50 over games.

"But we can’t lose sight of the bigger picture, we have to follow the guidance of the likes of Bill (Ribbans), the ECB medical staff and government guidelines, their opinion matters most currently.”

Payne is also still confident the club will be able to allow some supporters to attend any matches that are played, with social distancing observed at all times.

“We have talked about about the possibility of seeing maybe 1,500 supporters in the ground," said Payne.

"That is something we’re planning for and putting a lot of effort into working towards.

"We’re also exploring ways we can expand our free live stream to make sure as many of our supporters can watch us play as possible.”