Covid-19 ‘Return to Cricket’ Submission

The NWCU welcome confirmation from Cricket Ireland today that a submission has been made to both Sport Ireland and Sport NI regarding a return-to-training for cricket across Ireland and Northern Ireland in Phase 2 / Step 2 of the respective government roadmaps to reopening.

We also welcome the publication today of the Sport NI ‘Getting Back to Sport – Framework’ and in particular the inclusion of cricket within Step 2 of the NI Executive’s Coronavirus Recovery. This provided some clarity in respect of the return to cricket in the steps ahead for sport in the NI context, which helped to finalise the Cricket Ireland submission.

As outlined by Cricket Ireland the submission has been developed in collaboration with health and sports authorities, Provincial Unions, as well as in liaison with other sports in Ireland, other cricket boards and using draft ICC guidelines. The NWCU will continue to work with Cricket Ireland, the Provincial Unions and the relevant government departments to finalise the protocols for ‘Return to Cricket’ and we hope to be in a position soon to announce the first step in returning to cricket training.

Cricket clubs so far have been excellent in supporting the guidelines and these high levels of compliance will aid us in our proposals to Sport NI/Sport Ireland. We would remind clubs to continue to follow the guidelines and not to operate any cricket activity or training during Step 1 of the Northern Ireland Executive’s Coronavirus Recovery Plan. This directive also applies to Phase 1 of the Government of Ireland’s Roadmap To Reopen Society.

The NWCU will host Zoom webinars with clubs once the Return to Train protocols are approved. These webinars will discuss the practicalities, include a Q&A and also set out what we think Return to Play could look like. Dates of these webinars will be communicated to clubs in due course.