Head coach Ripley hopes Northants fans can return when season starts in April

The last time the County followers saw their team in action was in September, 2019. with the Covid-19 pandemic ensuring the action that did go ahead in the summer of 2020 was played behind closed doors.

Coronavirus is still of course very much with us, with the tier restrictions currently in place and the threat of further lockdowns looming in the new year, but the Northants head coach is keeping his fingers crossed that by the spring things will be looking much rosier.

Supporters have returned to other sporting events in the past month, dependent on what tier an area is placed in, and with Northamptonshire still in Tier 2, 2,000 Cobblers supporters are set to attend their Sky Bet League One fixture with Lincoln City this weekend.

That certainly augurs well for cricket, with it's large, open-air stadiums, when the season starts three-and-a-half months down the line.

The County Championship fixtures were announced this week, with Northants scheduled to start their Group 3 campaign against Kent at Wantage Road on Thursday, April 8, and asked about the possibility of fans returning, Ripley said: "I think the signs are good on that."

"It just depends on what happens early in the new year, and whether we are going to get a bit of a backlash.

"But the way we seem to be heading, with the vaccine development and our game being played in reasonably-sized and reasonably safe stadiums, we should be able to get 500 or 1,000 people in.

"So I would hope that cricket would be in pretty good shape to get the thumbs up for that, and hopefully by the time we get round to the T20 campaign (due to be played in June) we will be able to get quite a few more than that in.

"But I really hope there will be some County Championship fans in for those early games, I really do."

The County Championship has undergone another restructuring for next summer, following on from the truncated but well-received Bob Wills Trophy earlier this year, the truncated tournament being played once the season was allowed to get underway in August.

Wary of the fact Covid-19 could still be a major issue when it comes to sporting fixtures, the ECB decided on a three-group system rather than the two-division county championship, with Northants placed in Group 3.

The top two from each group after 10 games will go on to compete in a mini division campaign one to see who is the 2021 county champions, with those finishing third and fourth going into division two, and those fifth and sixth into division three.

The top two finishers in division one will also play a 'grand final' to win the Bob Willis Trophy.

The County are in with Kent, Yorkshire, Lancashire, Sussex and Glamorgan, starting with that home game against Kent before travelling to Old Trafford a week later to face Lancashire.

"We knew what group we were in, so it wasn't a great surprise, but it is just nice to know where you start, how the games come, if you are going to have a week off because there is a template," said Ripley.

"So we didn't know if we were going to be playing all the games back-to-back, but it turns out we have a week off in the middle, which will be handy.

"I am now looking forward to the next phase (white ball competition fixtures are announced in January), and I don't particularly know why the fixture list has been broken up, but I am sure there is a good reason.

"So once you see the whole thing, when the next lot come out and you have all the rest of the fixtures, then you can look at it as a whole.

"But it is nice to be at home, I do think it's good to have a home game first and we have got that."

NORTHANTS COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP FIXTURES 2021

Group 3

Thursday, April 8: Kent (H)

Thursday, April 15: Lancashire (A)

Thursday, April 22: Glamorgan (H)

Thursday, April 29: Yorkshire (A)

Thursday, May 6: Sussex (H)

Thursday, May 20: Lancashire (H)

Thursday, May 27: Sussex (A)

Thursday, June 3: Kent (A)

Saturday, July 3: Yorkshire (H)

Sunday, July 11: Glamorgan (A)