Alastair Cook prepared to write off 2020 County Championship due to coronavirus
Former England captain Alastair Cook says he would prefer this year’s County Championship season to be scrapped rather than attempting to hold a dramatically shortened campaign.
The England and Wales Cricket Board announced earlier in the month that the county season would be postponed until at least May 28 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
With the first round of County Championship fixtures originally due to take place on April 12, the competition faces a lengthy delay and may have to be restructured if and when it is safe for the sport to return.
But Cook would prefer county cricket to focus on ‘one or two’ white-ball tournaments rather than play a shortened County Championship season.
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‘In this year, over the next six months, the bigger picture is the most important,’ England’s record run-scorer told BBC Radio 5 Live.
‘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.
‘I would rather have one or two full tournaments, because if you do then play that tournament or two tournaments it is so much more rewarding to win it.
‘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.
‘I would rather concentrate on two full tournaments rather than saying we have four tournaments that we need to play, let’s get them all in even if we have to shorten them.
‘I think you would rather have two tournaments played full length so that the there is meaningful cricket at the end of it.’
Cook helped Essex win the County Championship last summer but says he and his county team-mates are simply playing a waiting game to see if the season will start in the foreseeable future.
He added: ‘We just don’t know do we and as an Essex squad we are just doing what everyone else is doing.
‘We are just waiting to see when we are allowed back into the county ground, when we are able to meet up again and hit balls as a group. Up until that time we just have to sit and wait.’
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