Amid the lockdown gloom comes a chink of light. The England and Wales Cricket Board has released a schedule of international cricket for the summer of 2021. It stresses that it is a provisional one for obvious reasons, but for those left craving more cricket after the restricted diet of 2020 there is much to savour.
Next year the games just keep coming in a manner that is likely to enhance the division of labour in white- and red-ball cricket. Increasingly only the superstar players will appear in all three formats of the game.
The ECB’s plans assume a return to some sort of normality, which should mean an end to the depressing sight of empty seats. It is selling tickets already on the basis the grounds can be filled to capacity, albeit with a clear refund promise should the situation not allow a full stadium.
The games return to all the traditional venues rather than the two possessing hotels on site, which was the case this year when every men’s international match took place at Old Trafford or the Ageas Bowl. Oddly, the Ageas Bowl, after all the sterling efforts there this year, does not feature at all – unlike Old Trafford.
The fixture list contains a five-Test series against India, which begins on 4 August at Trent Bridge, plus three one-day internationals against Sri Lanka and three more against Pakistan followed by three Twenty20 matches. More international cricket is likely; there may be three additional T20 matches against Sri Lanka. It is also possible there will be two more Test matches in June 2021 – likely against New Zealand – even though the ECB had planned to reduce the number of Tests to six per summer.
This will depend on whether England qualify for the inaugural World Test Championship final at Lord’s. Australia and India occupy the two top places in the table, which makes them the likeliest finalists. However it is still feasible for England and New Zealand to qualify for a tournament that has been talked about for so long without ever happening – rather like the Hundred.
England’s women are set to play matches against South Africa and New Zealand though the dates and venues have yet to be finalised; for the visually impaired national team an Ashes series has been scheduled.
No wonder that Tom Harrison, the ECB’s chief executive, is upbeat: “It’s an exciting prospect for England fans, and while Covid means there’s still a great deal of uncertainty, we really hope to be able to welcome fans back into the grounds safely next year to bring that unique atmosphere to stadia across the country.”
There is the danger, however, his players will be deadbeat by the end of next winter. Next autumn there is a trip to Bangladesh followed by a return to Pakistan for the first time in 16 years for two T20 internationals. In part this is triggered by the ECB’s gratitude at Pakistan’s willingness to tour this summer, but it is also in preparation for the T20 World Cup, which is scheduled to take place in India from next October.
Next comes the small matter of the Ashes in Australia and then there will be a Test series, comprising two or three matches against West Indies, another side to which the ECB is indebted.
In between all these fixtures England’s most prominent cricketers will be eager to fulfil their lucrative Indian Premier League commitments and they will, no doubt, be required to make fleeting appearances next July in the Hundred in a desperate attempt to give that competition some credibility. So in the wake of their pay cuts they could be unprecedentedly busy over the next 18 months. Let’s hope that is the case.