‘No Doomsday scenario at Yorkshire CCC’ insists Mark Arthur

That is the reassuring message from the club’s chief executive Mark Arthur as he pondered the potential financial impact on Yorkshire caused by the pandemic.

Arthur said that Yorkshire “would still survive” even if, in the worst-case scenario, not a single ball is bowled this summer.

He does not believe that any of the 18 first-class counties will go bust and predicted the cricketing family will pull together.

“This year was always going to be tight for us financially at Yorkshire and now, in all probability, depending on whether we get support from the England and Wales Cricket Board or the government, we will be in a loss-making situation,” said Arthur.

“But it will not be a Doomsday scenario for Yorkshire County Cricket Club.

“Because of the tremendous year that we had last year (Yorkshire recently announced a record operating profit of £6.5m), and the way that we are set up as a business, then it would be a very poor year financially but not a Doomsday situation. We would still survive (even if no cricket was played).

“As counties, we are trying to come up with a solution that best preserves cricket as an entity and will all be helping to support each other.

“I don’t think counties will go to the wall.”

Arthur was speaking after a conference call of the county chief executives to discuss the ongoing crisis, with the ECB to consider the various ideas mooted over the next 48 hours.

Among possible options are extending the season into October (Arthur feels it is unlikely to start in April but says that Yorkshire are planning as if it will), cutting the County Championship programme and even suspending the 50-over Cup. There is consensus, however, that the T20 Blast must go ahead if possible: a huge source of revenue for the clubs.

The new 100-ball competition is another cash cow – Yorkshire stand to make around £2m from this year’s inaugural edition – and counties are taking a practical approach.