Victorian Premier Cricket finals cancelled

This decision has been made in the best interests of Premier Cricket participants and the wider community and to further protect players, staff, volunteers and match officials at all levels of the game plus the wider community during the global coronavirus pandemic.

Cricket Victoria expects local community cricket and school competitions to take the same leadership position and cancel all cricket playing and training activity for the remainder of the 2019/20 season in response to this unprecedented global health issue.

It is understandable that many people in cricket communities around Victoria will be disappointed with this decision, but it has been made in the communities’ best interests in line with government and expert medical advice from Cricket Australia’s Chief Medical Officer, John Orchard.

Cricket Victoria acknowledges that this is a more extreme step than communicated in previous weeks, but our advice now is that the risks of playing organised sport at any level are too high to safely continue.

It is also recommended that all clubs and associations consider the cancellation or postponement of end of season functions.

Cricket Victoria is now working through the declaration of final results in competitions. Announcements are expected to be made in the next 24 hours after reviewing applicable competition rules. Teams and competitions impacted will be advised.

As all communities, organisations and institutions around the world rally to slow the spread of the coronavirus, so must Australian cricket. We hope that by taking these actions now we can play a small part in ‘flattening the curve’ and stemming the spread of the virus.