The coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak has led to postponement of various sporting events, including the Tokyo Olympics. And for the last few days, there were speculations that the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) could postpone The Hundred -- its first franchise-based 100-ball tournament.
On Monday, the ECB also delayed the next two ticket sale windows for tournament, leading to more doubt over the tournament’s fate.
However, Kate Miller, the ECB’s director of communications, told Sportstar that those were ‘rumours’. “At the moment, we are looking at number of scenarios across June-July and August on what we might do with the cricket season in the wake of Covid-19. The Hundred goes ahead at this stage, it’s still on schedule,” Miller said.
Priority tickets for The Hundred went on sale in a window in February, and had reportedly surpassed expectations. Now, the ECB has decided to delay the next two ticket windows, which were scheduled for April.
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In a statement, The Hundred’s managing director, Sanjay Patel, said: “In the midst of an epidemic which is affecting the nation in unprecedented ways, it would be wholly inappropriate for us to promote and sell tickets to The Hundred. We appreciate this may cause some disappointment to fans that were keen to purchase tickets in the April sales window, accessing early bird prices and securing tickets to the most in-demand games.
"When it is appropriate to go back on sale, we will of course offer the same ticket offers and accessible pricing. Like the rest of the nation, we all hope that it is not far away before cricket returns to our screens, stadiums, parks and clubs.”
England’s cricket season throughout April and May has been cancelled and the ECB is taking every initiative to revise the schedules for June, July and August. A clearer picture on The Hundred could only be available later next month.
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