Southern Premier Cricket League impose early June deadline for competitive league games

Havant CC's Southern Premier League season won't be competitive if no games can be played by early June. Picture by Mick Young.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, all recreation cricket activities are currently banned.

The SPL season is due to begin on May 2 with the first five rounds of fixtures due to be played in the month.

At present, that start date is looking highly optimistic.

A SPL statement said: ‘It has been agreed that unless the season begins by June 4, then there will be no promotions or relegations.

‘However, we would like any matches that do take place, to be played in as competitive a spirit as possible.’

To help achieve that, the SPL will be introducing a League Cup in each division.

The SPL’s early June cut-off point is the earliest imposed by any local league.

The 2020 Hampshire Cricket League season will comprise only friendlies if no league games can be played before the end of June.

But if matches are able to start before that date, then normal promotion and relegation rules will apply.

The Sussex League - the biggest one of its kind in the United Kingdom, if not around the world - have taken a slightly different approach, stating the second Saturday of July is their cut-off point for competitive matches to be played by.

If the league can start on July 11 and teams can play each other once only, there will be normal promotion and relegation.

A Sussex League statement said they will cancel all fixtures for May if they decide on Good Friday, April 10, that the season cannot begin on time on Saturday, May 2.

Providing grassroots cricket gets the green light to resume at an early enough stage, the SPL are ‘keen to run a version of the T20 competition.

‘But it does look unlikely that we will have access to the Ageas Bowl this season.’

Due to ‘economic difficulties’, the SPL will delay the invoicing of member clubs until the end of the season and will charge for umpires and balls on a pro-rata basis.

To further reduce the costs, the SPL will not be producing a hard copy handbook for the 2020 season. A PDF format will be available for download instead..