Cricket With Fans Set To Return As UK PM Boris Johnson Announces Plan

Cricket resumed in England after a 117-day hiatus due to novel coronavirus pandemic. England has been hyperactive in their preparation of bio-secure environment which has allowed the country to host the Test series against the West Indies which would be followed with a T2oI and Test series against Pakistan.

Not just cricket, even Premier League returned in the country sans fans. While there is a stun silence in the situation when a wicket goes down or a batsmen reaches his milestone, the professional sportsmen have seemingly adapted to it in no time. However, in a bid for fans to return to stadiums, United Kingdom prime minister Boris Johnson has chalked out a plan.

Boris Johnson said that there is a plan to bring audience back to the stadium and allow conferences and other business events by October. He, however, mentioned that it should be done in a COVID-19 secure manner to maintain the health and safety of the people involved in the events.

“From October, we intend to bring back audiences in stadia and to allow conferences and other business events to recommence,” Johnson said on Friday.

“Again, these changes must be done in a COVID-secure way subject to the successful outcome of pilots.”

“It is my strong and sincere hope that we will be able to review the outstanding restrictions and allow a more significant return to normality from November at the earliest possibly in time for Christmas,” said Johnson.

“If we continue to pull together, as we have done so far, I know we can beat this virus: hoping for the best, but planning for the worst, and it’s in that spirit that we must carry on waging this long, hard fight against coronavirus.”

According to a report in The Independent, there are already Premier League plans to bring back crowds at 40 per cent, which now has an October target while the World Snooker Championship runs from 31 July – 16 August in Sheffield, while Goodwood is on 1 August.