ECB chief executive Tom Harrison has admitted that the possibility of any cricket being played in front of crowds this summer is “not something that is realistic”. 

No professional cricket is to be played in England and Wales until July 1 at the very least due to the coronavirus pandemic. On Thursday, the ECB announced the postponement of The Hundred, with the inaugural edition of the tournament to now be held in 2021.

One of the reasons for the tournament’s postponement was that playing behind closed doors contradicted the ECB’s aims to “to attract a broader audience through a unique event for viewers and spectators”.

Speaking on Sky Sports‘ ‘The Cricket Show’, Harrison painted a picture of what any cricket played this summer could look like. The UK government’s chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty has said that social-distancing measures could stay in place for the rest of the year without a vaccine for coronavirus.

“Clearly, I think people are now understanding that it is behind closed doors, that is probably our only option this year, with respect to putting cricket on,” Harrison said. “I think the thought of returning to a scenario where we have crowds watching live cricket in this country this summer is not something that is realistic in the context of the public health crisis that we’re going through.

“Having said all that, all the right conversations are going on with government, and they need to be with government guidelines across the whole sport sector that give us the right guidelines to ensure that we can keep people safe. That is our No.1 priority through this crisis, and it’s how we’re dealing with everything. Those priorities are public safety and making sure our players, our staff, our management are all safe and well throughout this crisis.”

Harrison revealed last week that venues are likely to shift for any behind-doors international cricket that might take place this summer, with Old Trafford, Headingley and the Ageas Bowl reportedly lined-up to host all of England’s men’s matches. “Inevitably, behind closed doors, with all the implications we’ve talked about, that does change the venue allocation and the mindset changes,” Harrison told reporters.

“With no match-day revenue the whole mindset around hosting matches shifts. It goes from taking the game around the country to give fans a chance to see England in their backyard. That shifts because there’s no one seeing England play live at all. It then shifts to public health.”