ESPN Cricinfo has reported that Lancashire County Cricket Club will face millions of pounds worth of losses after the fifth Test between England and India was cancelled on Friday morning due to COVID concerns. Having been sold out for the first three days of the Test match and only 2,000 tickets of a capacity 22,000 remaining for day four, Emirates Old Trafford will now reimburse all those who had paid for entry to the game.
Daniel Gidney, Lancashire’s chief executive, stated that the resulting losses would be huge and “over seven figures”, and that the cricket club would not be in a position to bear them alone. Gidney mentioned he and the club would have to work with the ECB to get through the crisis, made even worse by a difficult last eighteen months under the finance-draining influence of the pandemic.
The remaining issue to be solved is that of the temporary staff employed for the Test match, the number of individuals requiring payment stretching into the thousands. That, Gidney said, is another problem to be discussed with the ECB, but the wish of the club is to see them paid for at least four of the five days. After the BCCI released a statement indicating their willingness to re-schedule the Test for next year, Gidney and Lancashire have declared themeselves available and keen to be the hosts.
