Update to ‘Return to Train’ Protocols
The NWCU has welcomed the recent announcement from the Northern Ireland Executive on the return to competitive sport on 17 July.
With the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland now confirmed as moving to Phase 3 / Step 3 on Monday, Cricket Ireland has released a second update to the Safe Return to Training protocols (download), which is effective from 29 June in both jurisdictions.
Consultation on Return-to-Play protocols has been ongoing this week, and the NWCU is working with Cricket Ireland and other stakeholder groups to ensure clubs move towards competitive action soon. All 21 clubs in the NWCU have completed their Covid-19 training in recent weeks as clubs prepare for a return to playing.
Peter McCartney, NWCU General Manager, outlined the next steps:
Over the past week we have been receiving feedback from clubs on the number of teams they intend to enter this season. The response from clubs has been very positive towards the proposed T20 and T10 competitions and all 21 clubs are set to play competitive cricket this summer. Based on this club feedback we will now be preparing fixtures for our men’s, women’s and youth competitions. We will be announcing further details next week around groups and playing protocols.
From this Monday though (29th June), the restrictions around training are being eased further as we move into Step 3 of ‘Return to Cricket’. This will allow for greater numbers at training sessions and it should start to feel a bit more like a normal training session again for players. It’s important to remember though that social distancing and hygiene protocols still very much apply.
