ECB Statement Post-lockdown Regional Tiers England + What it means for Cricket in Wiltshire

With recent Government announcements regarding new regional tiers of restrictions there are clearly a number of questions around what this means for planned cricket activity indoors this winter. With that in mind, we share an ECB statement released earlier today, together with a latest Wiltshire Cricket position:

ECB Statement re. Post-Lockdown Regional Tiers in England:

Following the confirmation by the Prime Minister on 23 November that England will return to a three-tier system of regional restrictions once the current lockdown period ends at 00:01 on 2 December, ECB is working with DCMS and Sport England on the full details of what this means for cricket.

We can confirm that:

  • Organised activities for U18s in groups of up to 15 and disabled people will be able to continue indoors across all tiers;
  • In Tier 1 areas, organised adult cricket indoors can take place subject to the rule of six in a COVID secure environment – as per the arrangements in place for Tier 1 prior to the latest lockdown;
  • In Tier 2 areas, organised adult sport can only take place indoors if there is no interaction between people from different households. For cricket activity this means (subject to a satisfactory risk assessment of the individual facilities) that a net session is allowed between individuals from a different household, but only on a 1:1 basis. If individuals from different households want to net together indoors, the maximum number of people permitted to take part in an indoor net session is three – two taking part in the session and one coach, who must remain socially distanced.
  • In all cases, the COVID risk assessment of the individual facilities must consider whether indoor nets should be used on an ‘every other’ basis.
  • Coach education can continue under all tiers in line with the work exemption where this cannot be done from home;
  • In Tier 3 areas, adult 1:1 coaching is restricted to one player and one coach.
  • Elite cricket activity can continue to take place across all tiers;
  • Outdoor cricket activity will be able to resume across all tiers.

On Thursday 26 November, the Government published the full list of local restrictions by area in England. You can find out which area applies to you here.

As a naturally socially distanced sport, ECB does not consider that playing cricket contributes to the spread of COVID-19 in any significant way, and it continues to play a key role in helping to safely maintain the health and wellbeing of the nation under coronavirus restrictions. We thank everyone from the cricket community who has contacted their local MP to highlight this point - we know that this has had an impact on the decision to allow outdoor cricket activity, indoor U18 and disability cricket to fully resume post-lockdown.

We are awaiting further clarification around travel restrictions for each tier and for what purpose. As soon as we have full confirmed guidance we will publish an updated summary for all cricket activity by tier that can take place from Wednesday 2 December onwards in England. We are also in the final stages of confirming indoor guidance for cricket activity in Wales and are hoping to publish this as soon as possible.

Wiltshire Cricket Position:

Firstly, confirmation that both of the Local Authorities affecting Wiltshire (Swindon Borough Council and Wiltshire Council) have been placed in to tier 2 restrictions

As a result of the above information from ECB, Wiltshire Cricket will clearly be looking at all aspects of its planned delivery for this winter. However, we would make some initial comments and observations:

  • Schools Cricket – We are delighted that during this current Lockdown we have been able to continue our delivery in educational settings. This has enabled us to deliver Chance to Shine during this current term, with 13 primary schools receiving our support. We are pleased that this will be able to continue for more schools in term 3 commencing after Christmas
  • Workforce Education – Coach and Workforce Education is an important part of our winter business and so we are pleased that Coach Education will be able to continue as planned this winter. We have our first First Aid course of the winter, and our first ever ECB Foundation 1 Coaching course taking place in December. For full details of all of our Workforce Education courses taking place this winter, please visit; https://www.wiltshirecricket.co.uk/news/2020-10-02/wiltshire-cricket-launches-its-workforce-education-programme-for-2020-2021.html
  • Youth Talent Pathway Programmes – The above bullet points from ECB do indicate that organised activities for Under 18s will be able to take place in groups of up to 15. This means that our planned talent pathway programmes will be able to take place this winter as planned (*we are awaiting clarification that the group of 15 does not include coaches)
  • Disability Cricket – With a new Disability Development Officer in post for Wiltshire Cricket we have been looking forward to launching our Disability community programmes. The above bullet points confirm that this will be possible this winter and so we will be moving forwards with these plans
  • Indoor Girls Cricket Leagues – Unfortunately, due to restrictions on adult activity it means that Adult Indoor leagues are unable to take place this winter. However, with the exemptions for under 18s, we are looking to introduce girls indoor cricket leagues this winter as part of our continuing focus on increasing opportunities for the female game
  • Club Indoor programmes in Tier 2 – Clearly the above statement from ECB does make it clear that:
    • Junior club indoor programmes will be able to take place in group sizes of up to 15 (noting we will confirm an answer to the question around if this includes coaches or not)
    • Adult club indoor programmes will not be able to take place whilst we remain in tier 2 restrictions, other than possible 1:1 sessions for people from different households, noting the point in the ECB statement regarding use of adjacent net lanes

ECB Guidance for Cricket Indoors and Risk Assessments:

It is important to use this opportunity to stress that the ECB has so far produced two iterations of its guidance for Cricket Indoors with further updated guidance to be announced in the near future following this latest series of government announcements. It is important to recognise that for any Cricket activity that is able to take place this winter it will need to comply with the detailed guidance and have an appropriate risk assessment attached to it. The importance of this cannot be underestimated. As soon as ECB’s latest and updated indoor guidance has been approved and released we will be in touch with clubs again. For the most recent indoor guidance, please visit our website at; https://www.wiltshirecricket.co.uk/covid-19/ecb-covid-19-guidance-for-cricket-indoors.html