Cricket Restarts Post COVID-19 As ICC Welcomes Move

First instance of cricket restarting after outbreak of the virus, helps this Pacific Island grab international headlines.

Photo: AFP (Representative Image)

Even as the ICC sits together to come up with an action plan to resume international cricket and restructure the FTP, the island nation of Vanuatu, located on the Pacific Ocean, becomes the first nation to resume their cricketing activities following the outbreak of the global pandemic.

COVID-19 also impacted the nation, which was in a state of emergency late March whole the nation shit it's international borders and airline traffic before declaring itself as COVID free.

Vanuatu is an associate nation of the ICC and has been steadily progressing and has been a competitive nation in the ICC World cup qualifiers.

The first cricketing fixture will be the resumption of the women's league tournament while the first week of May will see the main Men's tournament taking place.

"We have decided that it is safe for us to resume our cricketing activities,"  Shane Deitz, CEO, Vanuatu Cricket told ICC website. "However, we understand that there is still a need for physical distancing and we will do our best to ensure that we abide by physical distancing recommendations and also maintain good hygiene." While this might bring some cheer for cricket fans, mainstream cricket still remains a distant dream with England making it official that there will be no cricket matches till July as of now while BCCI and Cricket Australia has been very clear that they require governmental clearance to restart the game in their respective countries.