The chief executives of the 12 full member countries of the International Cricket Council and three associate representatives will get on a video conference on Thursday and discuss the future of the sports while discussing the financial losses that have been incurred due to the coronavirus threat.
Along with a number of bilateral series’ that have been postponed, the start of the English season has been deferred as well. The Indian Premier League has been deferred indefinitely and there are doubts over the staging of the T20 World Cup later this year as well.
Tom Harrison, the chief executive of England and Wales Cricket Board warned that an entire season without cricket in England would mean a loss of over 300 million pounds. Cricket Australia has already laid off a few staff members till June, while the BCCI will incur losses around INR 3300 crore only by the cancellation of the IPL.
“We need to share knowledge and start to build a deep understanding of what it will take to resume international cricket,” Manu Sawhney, ICC chief executive, said.
“Countries will start to reopen at different stages and in different ways and we will need to respect that and have a holistic view of this to enable us to take well-informed decisions that mitigate the various risks as much as possible.”
South Africa’s LOI series to Sri Lanka in June has become the latest bilateral series to be postponed. The ICC will also contemplate scrapping the World Test Championship if the countries are unable to play their games.