Everything you need to know as Gloucestershire Cricket prepare to resume 2020 season

Everything you need to know as Gloucestershire Cricket prepare to resume 2020 season

Posted on: 22 Jun 2020

The club hope to kickstart their 150th Anniversary celebrations with a return to competitive cricket in August.

 

We miss cricket. 2020 looked set to be one of the most exciting years in the history of Gloucestershire Cricket, with the club's return to Division One in the County Championship coinciding with its 150th Anniversary celebrations.

 

Competing on all fronts with one of the strongest squads they've had in a long time, players, staff and fans alike had reason to be ambitious about what lay ahead.

 

Then, as was the case with sporting seasons around the world, the outbreak of COVID-19 brought Gloucestershire's season preparations to a grinding halt and completely reshaped the outlook of the rest of the year.

 

 

After three months of lockdown, however, it finally looks as though we're finally beginning the recovery period. Normality is slowly being restored, through the reopening of businesses, easing of lockdown restrictions and tentative continuation of sporting seasons.

 

Cricket fans across the South West were recently met with news that the ECB were in the process of agreeing terms to resume the domestic season, and Gloucestershire CEO Will Brown and Chairman John Hollingdale penned a joint letter to fans outlining their plans to get players back into training in early July.

 

But what has the club been up to in lockdown? What was happening when lockdown came into force? What's been going on at the County Ground over the course of the last three months?

 

If, like us, you need a bit of a refresher before the action resumes, read on and get the full lowdown on all things Gloucestershire Cricket, including lockdown highlights, contract news, plans for the future and more.

The County Ground.

What was happening before lockdown?

 

After a successful season in 2019 that saw them win promotion to Division One and perform well in the limited-overs formats, Gloucestershire Cricket were gearing up for their first top-flight County Championship campaign in more than a decade.

 

It just so happened that their return to Division One coincided with the club's 150th Anniversary celebrations, with a charity partnership campaign launched in late 2019 to mark the occasion. Gloucestershire had big plans to celebrate the milestone with special events, ticket offers and nods to some of their biggest achievements over the years, but the outbreak of coronavirus threw a huge spanner in the works.

 

The club were forced to cancel their pre-season trip to La Manga in Spain due to increasing health concerns, and the ECB suspended all professional and recreational cricket activity in the UK - including training and friendly games - less than a week later on 18 March.

 

 

How has the club spent lockdown?

 

In the absence of any on-pitch activity, Gloucestershire Cricket have been hard at work engaging with fans and the local community. As well as showing and covering classic matches through their social media channels, and speaking with members of previous GCCC squads as part of the Former Players' Memories series, batsman George Hankins represented the club in the virtual Quarantine Cup in April, with matches played on the Cricket 19 video game and streamed via YouTube.

 

The club has also been actively supporting a number of charitable initiatives, with CEO Will Brown and his family completing the 2.6 Challenge, which saw them complete a number of challenges related to the number 2.6 (a reference to the distance of a traditional marathon) to raise money for CLIC Sargent. 

 

With no actual fixtures and very little news to cover, the Gloucestershire Cricket social media team have done a great job keeping spirits up and keeping people entertained, hosting player Q&As, running polls and posting clips of the club's highlight reel on Twitter.

 

 

And what have the players been up to?

 

With a lot of time to kill and regular training sessions and regimes put on hold, the squad have been sticking to individual training programmes and maintaining their fitness levels in anticipation of the season getting back underway.

 

Captain and batsman Chris Dent has led the club's calls for fans and members of the community to look after and support each other during the crisis, while players like Qais Ahmad and James Bracey have shared clips of themselves keeping busy at home.

 

 

Any big news?

 

It's been tough to draw any positives from such a difficult period for the public, but Gloucestershire fans got a boost in late March when batsman Miles Hammond signed a two-year contract extension with the club. Chris Dent then stole the headlines a month later when he agreed a contract of extension of his own, keeping him in the Westcountry until the end of 2023.

 

Everyone connected with the club was rocked by the news that former Gloucestershire Captain, Chairman and President Tony Brown passed away in April at the age of 83. An integral part of Gloucestershire Cricket for the best part of sixty years, Tony's life will be celebrated in full as soon as it is safe to do so.

 

"Tony Brown was much admired by and widely respected throughout the cricketing world; he represented the very best of Gloucestershire Cricket and his loss will be felt by all of our supporters," said Chairman John Hollingdale.

Club legend Tony Brown sadly passed away in April.

When will training restart and how will it be structured?

 

As sporting seasons around the world start to get back underway, with domestic football leagues across Europe playing matches behind closed doors, the ECB is starting to establish plans to resume competitive cricket as soon as they can do so safely and responsibly.

 

In a statement released on the club's website this week, CEO Will Brown and Chairman John Hollingdale explained that they are "absolutely committed" to playing competitive cricket this year, and that staff are working hard to get things ready for the continuation of the season.

 

"We will be bringing players back to training at the beginning of July under the supervision of Ian Harvey in order to be ready for the cricket we hope will be played in August," they said.

 

"In the debates that are currently raging on this subject there are many things to consider, but for us our primary consideration will always be the welfare and safety of our players and support staff as they return to cricket."

 

Able to look at other sports for guidance on social distancing guidelines, testing and other safety measures, it appears as though the ECB, and Gloucestershire Cricket in particular, are optimistic about the prospects of squads being able to get out on the training pitch in the near future.

Chris Dent in action for Gloucestershire.

When will the season resume/what's still to come in 2020?

 

General talk at present suggests that the 2020 season will get underway some time in August. There are three months' worth of fixtures to catch up on, however no decisions have been made as yet and it's looking increasingly likely that any rescheduled matches will be played behind closed doors.

 

As well as their first season back in the top flight of the County Championship, Gloucestershire will be competing in the Vitality Blast and Royal London Cup.

 

Nothing has been decided at national level just yet, so for now GCCC remain in the dark about when they'll be able to return to action, and what the remainder of the season will look like.

 

Whatever happens, there's a lot of cricket to catch up on - be sure to keep up with Gloucestershire Cricket on Facebook and Twitter, and keep an eye on their website, for news and updates in the coming weeks.

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Article by:

Matt Robson

 

Editor - 365Bristol.com & LOUD Magazine
 

Matt is a Journalism graduate and writer, passionate about supporting Bristol music, art and independent business. Get in touch via email at matt@365bristol.com.