Plans made for Fylde coast cricket but Blackpool want only away fixtures

Plans are being made for club cricket to be played on the Fylde coast this summer, though Blackpool CC would only take part in a proposed round-robin competition if all their fixtures were away from home.
Blackpool Cricket Club see little point in staging a Lancashire match behind closed doors this summerBlackpool Cricket Club see little point in staging a Lancashire match behind closed doors this summer
Blackpool Cricket Club see little point in staging a Lancashire match behind closed doors this summer
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Blackpool captain fearful for future of league clubs

That’s because the Stanley Park club intends to undertake work on the ground in August to improve drainage, and that would also appear to rule out the scheduled Lancashire game at Blackpool this year.

The Northern Premier League is open to the idea of playing the second half of this season’s scheduled league fixtures, if play is able to commence next month, though with no league title, promotion or relegation at stake.

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The league admits a more likely scenario is for play to be possible from August, in which case a regionalised round-robin tournament has been proposed, involving Northern League and Palace Shield sides in 40-over or 20-over matches.

Teams would be divided into four groups of six at each of four levels, with level one consisting of Northern League and Palace Shield premier division clubs.

The level one group for the Fylde coast would consist of Northern League trio Blackpool, Fleetwood and St Annes, as well as Palace Shield clubs Fylde, South Shore and Thornton Cleveleys.

It is proposed that Blackpool fields a side at all three lower levels, while Fleetwood and St Annes also include a second and third team.

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Blackpool chairman Dave Cresswell told The Gazette: “Everything is still up on the table. The league have sent out a questionnaire to all clubs and until they get the responses back we can’t be sure what will happen.

“From the Blackpool point of view, we are unlikely to join in any round-robin competition unless we can play all our games away from home. We have ground works to do and this is the best time.

“We would be happy to put teams together for away matches but we would struggle to get four out.

“To get everybody back and engaged would be a challenge and we would need three or four weeks to get going.”

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Lancashire’s return to Stanley Park against Worcestershire in the Royal London One-Day Cup will not proceed as planned on July 29 because county cricket has been ruled until August at the earliest.

Cresswell added: “I’ve had it on good authority that any game offered to Blackpool would be behind closed doors.

“Potentially there would be little point hosting a game on that basis and we want to get the work on the ground done in August.

“The new drainage system would be a significant step forward in attracting future Lancashire games as the ground has been liable to flooding.”

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For now, Blackpool CC is slowly coming to back to life as Cresswell explained: “There is some coaching going on and a booking system system is in place for nets, though we have strict social distancing and the pavilion can’t be used. It’s a case of book your slot, turn up and go home.”

n England’s director of cricket Ashley Giles does not think their Test and T20 series against Pakistan is in doubt despite the three positive coronavirus tests among the tourists’ squad.

Haider Ali, Haris Rauf and Shadab Khan were all found to be carrying the virus and are now self-isolating.

The trio will not be in the group which departs Lahore for Manchester on Sunday but could join at a later date.

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“I’m concerned about those players who tested positive and concerned about their welfare,” Giles said. “I don’t think the series is in doubt. We are far enough away from the start of the Test series to not worry about that too much at the moment.”