Portsmouth area recreational cricket clubs frustrated by lack of a return date

Boris Johnson’s shock remarks earlier this week about a ball being a ‘natural vector for disease’ while pubs and hairdressers were told they could reopen didn’t go down well.

But for one Hampshire League club, those frustrations have been doubled as the 2020 season was due to be their inaugural campaign.

Portsmouth Community CC were formed last September by three players who were previously at Railway Triangle CC - Matt Barber, Jamie Nottage and Richard Rigby.

After all the hard work in getting the club up and running, they are still waiting for their first match - and that is now unlikely to be before mid-July at the very earliest.

‘We’ve always had an assumption that cricket would resume in mid-July in some format,’ said Barber, the PCCC chairman.

‘I’ve been expecting 20-over cricket to start around then and potentially 40-over cricket sometime in August.

‘There’s absolutely no reason why cricket can’t start in mid-July. I don’t see any logic that says it can’t.

‘There’s more than enough restrictions you can put in place - such as driving to games on your own and bringing your own tea.’

Deciding to set up a new club last summer led to lots of work in the winter months - mainly administration duties, though the squad, mainly comprising ex-Triangle players, did train regularly in Petersfield.

‘We under-estimated just how much work there was to do,’ said Barber.

‘We had to get a ground sorted, and write out all the policies - code of conduct, club constitution - open a bank account, all sorts of things.’

Community will play at Cockleshell Gardens, in Eastney, when they are allowed to do so.

‘We got some grants for the netting we had to put up because of the adjacent houses,’ Barber explained.

‘Financially we’re in good health, because we’re a start-up club the pandemic probably hasn’t impacted us as much as others.

‘In a way it’s given us a bit more time to get prepared, but it has been frustrating - there will be a real buzz when we can play our first game.

‘I would be very surprised if we didn’t get any cricket at all. The ECB statement following Boris’ comments about the ball was the strongest statement I’ve heard from them.’

Gareth Toms, captain of Hampshire League club US Portsmouth CC, is also puzzled the sport is still under lockdown with no restart date on the horizon.

‘It does seem odd that cricket is not on the list of sports that have been given the green light, such as tennis.’ he said.

‘A tennis ball is transferred from hand to hand in the same way as cricket.

‘The use of saliva and sweat on the ball is what’s creating issues for the government. I know using saliva is a habitual thing - you see it on tv, you see it in every game - and I’m sure that’s the major area of concern, but it can be carefully monitored.

‘I know there’s various groups lobbying MPs, and various petitions going around, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the government said next week that cricket can restart - either with adult T20 games or at junior level.’

Toms is not convinced every player will be rushing to return once cricket is told it can restart.

‘There are going to be issues.’ he said.

‘My concern is that there are going to be a lot of players who might not make themselves available if we’re only going to have a few friendlies before the end of the season.

‘At our club there’s a hardcore group who are absolutely devastated that they haven’t been able to play any cricket so far and can’t understand why we’re still not playing.

‘But there are others who have been playing golf at a weekend and have been enjoying it, they might be thinking ‘roll on 2021’.

‘I’ve been playing golf on a Saturday and enjoying it, but I also love my cricket - but I’m one of the older ones, I’m almost 50.

‘Some players might not fancy it if we’re only playing friendlies, or if we’re only playing T20s. I think T20is a great format, but it’s not 40-over league cricket and some people might prefer to wait for next season.

‘Some players might be thinking about the state of the pitches. What state are some going to be in if groundsmen have been furloughed? They might be thinking about injuries.

‘Travelling could be an issue for some. We’ve got players who don’t drive, so how are they going to get to away games as car sharing isn’t something that’s being encouraged?

‘Unless you arrange really local games some players could struggle to get to matches.’

Toms continued: ‘It’s all a real shame, and I feel sorry for the colts - they could effectively miss an entire season of cricket.

‘Kids who have played cricket might be tempted to find something else to do.

‘We’re all fighting for participation numbers, but other sports have had a head start on cricket.

‘We’ve already missed three months, and even if we get the green light next week we’re not really going to be ready to play until mid-July. That leaves a season of six weeks - that’s not a lot.

‘It’s all been exacerbated by the great weather we’ve had, I don’t think we would have had a game rained off if we’d started on time.’

Railway Triangle CC chairman Simon Newsham declared the current situation regarding recreational cricket as ‘really infuriating’.

‘You can play basketball, you can play tennis. Basketball is pretty much a contact sport and the ball is going through more pairs of hands than a cricket ball,’ he remarked.

‘It’s infuriating to watch Liverpool win the Premier League … they can play football but we can’t play cricket, a game which lends itself to social distancing.

‘In cricket it’s basically just the bowler and then possibly a fielder, who can wipe his hands and give the ball back to the bowler again.

‘I would like to think we will be playing in August, and I’d hope we’d be playing in July. I’m confident of four or five games in August and September, though in September we’d have to travel as virtually all the pitches in Portsmouth are given over to football.’

Triangle have two men’s teams, but it’s the ladies XI that Newsham is more concerned about.

‘It’s really affected the ladies team. I don’t think we’ll be able to get a single ladies fixture on this summer,’ he said.

‘A lot of them work in the health service, some are paramedics, and they’re ante doing anything at the moment until this is completely sorted out.

‘A lot of them also play rugby and come August I could lose those players if rugby training starts.

‘I think the Hampshire League were fully expecting to get some games in July, so we were shocked by the announcement on Monday.

‘Now we’re still in a state of limbo. I can’t see any reason why we shouldn’t be playing ...saying the ball is a vector of disease is just crazy.

‘The rules could be adapted. Perhaps each umpire could have a ball? Each player could certainly have a hand sanitiser in their pocket. I don’t think anyone would spit on the ball, because we’ve been told not to.

‘We’re geared up for playing. The council have told us they can get the pitch (at Drayton Park) ready within a fortnight.

‘We haven’t got a lot of juniors, we’re all adults, we all drive - travelling wouldn’t be a problem for us.’

Triangle received a £650 Sport England grant that helped cover costs already paid for such as pitch hire, pavilion lease and players’ insurance.

‘That grant helped a lot,’ said Newsham. ‘We have not charged any membership fees this summer, because we haven’t been able to offer anything - though some people have still paid.

‘If we do start playing again, we’ll charge a £10 match fee - it was previously £8, so not a big increase.’

Portchester CC chairman David Pitcher is another highly concerned that the continued lay-off could result in players turning their backs on cricket.

‘It’s very frustrating,’ he declared.

‘It seems ridiculous you can meet in a restaurant or a pub, but there’s no recreational cricket.

‘Lockdown is easing now, but we’re still up in the air. My big worry is that the players are not playing cricket so they will find other things to do.

‘But until the government say we can play again, there’s nothing we can do about it.’

Chris Thomas, the Bedhampton CC chairman, said: ‘At the moment I hope we’d get some cricket by the end of July or beginning of August - that’s the wishlist.

‘The big issue at our club - and I suspect most clubs - is how many people will continue to play after a year out of cricket?

‘Will some people find other alternatives? But others will say they have missed it, there’ll be two camps.

‘I don’t think we’re going to get much more than four or five games.

‘The biggest question the government are struggling with is getting around the ball touching multiple pairs of hands. That’s what is stopping cricket returning.

‘Perhaps an umpire can clean it at the start of each over?

‘Local games will be the most sensible way. There’s a few teams near us - Emsworth, Hayling, Havant, Waterlooville - and that’s before you include the Portsmouth teams.

‘We wouldn’t want to go any further than Fareham to play, and we wouldn’t ask players to car share.’