England likely to have shortened domestic season

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) are reportedly trying to salvage their domestic season by giving a go ahead to a shortened County Championship for the upcoming season.

All cricket has been suspended since mid-March in the wake of coronavirus pandemic and according to a report in ESPNcricinfo, ECB are looking to begin their season in early August.

The teams are likely to be divided in three groups of sixes and will play once against each other. The top two from each group will progress into the next round with the five-day final set to be played at Lord's.

The report also stated that County Championship will be followed up T20 Blast and One-day Cup respectively. In case the season couldn't begin in August then, according to the report, County season will be called off and focus will go entirely on T20 Blast.

There are few venues which reportedly cannot be used for the domestic season as the ECB are trying to build a bio-secure environment for the proposed England-West Indies Test series.

The two boards are in the final stages of the discussions and it is likely that the three-Test series will go ahead as per plans in July. The two sets of players have already begun training, following all guidelines put forward by the ICC and their respective governments.