Former captain of England, Michael Vaughan criticised UK PM Boris Johnson on Tuesday over the “nonsense” of upholding the ban on cricket due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. The other recreational games like tennis and golf are now allowed in the country. At the same time, amateur cricketers still face wait and ban beyond the boundaries of the pitch.
“We’re still working on ways to make cricket more COVID-secure, but we can’t change the guidance yet,” Johnson told Parliament on Tuesday
Greg Clark, an MP of the governing Conservative Party asked the former captain about the return of cricket and the precautions needed. “Cricket is perhaps our most socially distanced team sport,” said Clark.
Johnson, however, replied: “The problem with cricket as everybody understands, that the ball is a natural vector of disease, potentially, at any rate, and we’ve been round it many times with our scientific friends.”
“At the moment we’re still working on ways to make cricket more COVID-secure, but we can’t change the guidance yet,” he added.
Vaughan has previously called the ECB to take actions in resuming the amateur and youth cricket going and was unimpressed with the present scenario.
Vaughan’s Tweet
Michael Vaughan tweeted: “Hand sanitiser in every player’s pocket … Use every time you touch the ball … SIMPLE … Recreational Cricket should just play from July 4th … utter nonsense it’s not being allowed back.”
England has not taken part in any major international tournament since the lockdown. A three-match Test series will start against West Indies on July 8, behind closed doors at Southampton.
How it started
On Tuesday, the British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson has said that the ball is a vector of germs and thus immediately ruled out the resumption of the game at an amateur level. Discussions started when the PM lifted the ban from tennis and polo but cricket was still off the limits. However, his comments have no connection to the England vs West Indies Test series which is due on 8th July as that comes under ‘Elite Cricket’ category.
