Cancel County Championship if it can’t be played in full, says Cook

The County Championship, which was due to begin on April 12, faces a lengthy delay after Tom Harrison, chief executive officer at the ECB, said that the “most financially important forms of the game” will be prioritised.

Former England captain Alastair Cook on Saturday called on cricket chiefs to cancel the English County Championship if the season cannot be played in full due to the coronavirus.

Alastair Cook (REUTERS)

The England and Wales Cricket Board have postponed all domestic action until at least May 28 because of the pandemic.

The County Championship, which was due to begin on April 12, faces a lengthy delay after Tom Harrison, chief executive officer at the ECB, said that the “most financially important forms of the game” will be prioritised.

That puts the Twenty20 Blast and the inaugural season of The Hundred as the most likely competitions to be retained in a slimmed-down schedule.

But Cook, who won the Division One title with Essex last season, believes a shortened season would lose value.

“In this year, over the next six months, the bigger picture is the most important,” Cook told the BBC.

“Whatever happens, if we do play any sort of cricket, which hopefully we will, what I hope is that they don’t try and have a six-game County Championship or something like that.

“If there is not time for a meaningful County Championship, say (you can only play) three or four games, there is probably not much sense us having it.”