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[alba caerulea]

Whether it has an impact or not is irrelevant if the government has restricted travel though. I don't think anybody is stupid enough to risk a large fine for breach of restrictions in order to play a game of cricket either.

So surely that applies for the early friendlies you are planning aswell?

If you are allowed friendlies you'll be allowed league fixtures. Cricket is cricket.

No idea where this imaginary mileage restriction has come from.

[SD]

The new, highly transmissible strain of the virus that has lead us into another full on lockdown seems like a pretty good reason to think we might not be able to start cricket on time. I hope we do get cricket in April/May, but if the infections, hospital admissions and deaths aren't where they need to be then it won't happen.

I think it's also a fairly brave assumption to say all vulnerable groups will be vaccinated by then, given that proper protection requires both doses of the vaccine plus some additional time for it to take full effect. Doesn't leave a lot of leeway and nothing in the handling of the pandemic so far has exactly inspired confidence.

Looking at it purely from a cricket perspective, the fact that we are in lock down now is positive for April.  Also, whereas the Government has previously been caught between differing internal arguments as to how to approach this, they are now throwing all their eggs in the vaccination basket. 

I also have heard that the ECB has been told to prepare for a normal season.  No one can guarantee what the future will be but a full season seems the most likely outcome to me at this stage

[Jimbo]

So surely that applies for the early friendlies you are planning aswell?

If you are allowed friendlies you'll be allowed league fixtures. Cricket is cricket.

No idea where this imaginary mileage restriction has come from.

Not if you're playing local friendlies. In our league you could quite feasibly play teams whose grounds have 85 miles between them. If those fixtures can't be played due to travel restriction then it obviously impacts on the integrity of a full league season. Whereas with friendly games, it would be perfectly legitimate to restrict your games to clubs within a short distance of your club. Given that sharing cars is also currently not allowed in Scotland, it means that travel is feasible for everyone and not just those with their own transport.

The imaginary mileage restriction, as you put it, is based on the fact that the Scottish government has restricted travel between local authority areas for quite some time now. If I can't travel outside of my local authority area then I can't go to any clubs further away than about 5 miles. Hope that clears things up.

[six and out]

The honest answer is no one knows, this whole situation has had many peaks and troughs, not least the new variant. The best thing to do is to stay positive, stay safe, follow the rules and leagues/clubs plan well for the different possibilities so we are ready.

For me personally, I hope we at least are allowed our clubhouses open and full colts cricket played, they are the lifeblood of club a in terms of the future and income.

[alba caerulea]

Not if you're playing local friendlies. In our league you could quite feasibly play teams whose grounds have 85 miles between them. If those fixtures can't be played due to travel restriction then it obviously impacts on the integrity of a full league season. Whereas with friendly games, it would be perfectly legitimate to restrict your games to clubs within a short distance of your club. Given that sharing cars is also currently not allowed in Scotland, it means that travel is feasible for everyone and not just those with their own transport.

The imaginary mileage restriction, as you put it, is based on the fact that the Scottish government has restricted travel between local authority areas for quite some time now. If I can't travel outside of my local authority area then I can't go to any clubs further away than about 5 miles. Hope that clears things up.

Ah I see. I had no idea you were in Scotland and no idea there was any mileage restrictions up there. I couldnt be further from you so dont pay much attention to the rules up there. No such restrictions so far where I am fortunately! I didn't know you weren't allowed to share cars either. Sounds closer to the rules enforced in Spain than over the border in England

Maybe if they had done that in England aswell the tier system might have worked

[Jimbo]

Ah I see. I had no idea you were in Scotland and no idea there was any mileage restrictions up there. I couldnt be further from you so dont pay much attention to the rules up there. No such restrictions so far where I am fortunately! I didn't know you weren't allowed to share cars either. Sounds closer to the rules enforced in Spain than over the border in England

Maybe if they had done that in England aswell the tier system might have worked

That's fair enough, can't say I have much of a grasp of the English rules other than the cross-border travel rules I deal with at work!

It's all been a bit of a mess but fingers crossed it gets resolved in time for a full cricket season. We had a really promising group of new players last year and would be gutted if most of them lost interest with no cricket available.