Lincolnshire CCC reveal plans following the cancellation of National Counties campaign

The ECB have approved the National Counties Cricket Association's recommendation to cancel all National Counties (formerly Minor Counties) competitions for the 2020 season.

The principal reasons for this decision were the availability of club grounds, the lack of catering for players, the likely need for players to have to travel alone in playing kit for extensive mileages, and the general need to ensure their safety.

Lincolnshire players, for example, would have had to travel alone some 600 miles to complete their away fixtures at Cumberland and Cheshire.

The Lincolnshire County Cricket Club are looking to play intra-county games, such as North Lincolnshire versus South Lincolnshire, involving both current senior county players and potential development players progressing through the player pathway system.

As most host clubs have fairly full schedules of matches on Saturdays and Sundays, the County Club will be looking to stage such games in mid-week. It is hoped that they can be held on the three grounds which normally stage the county club's three-day Championship fixtures, such as Cleethorpes, Grantham and Sleaford.

The National Counties Cricket Association are aiming to roll over the fixture programme for this season into next year, which means that Lincolnshire will be battling it out with Staffordshire, Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire in 2021 in the Eastern Division One, as well as taking part in the NCCA T20 and 50 over competitions.