UPDATE FOR CLUBS AND LEAGUES: COVID-19

Date: 17th April 2020

From the ECB

Dear all,

We hope that you had a happy and relaxing few days over Easter. Following the Emergency Grant and Loan update earlier today, our weekly COVID-19 update can be found below.

All Stars Cricket Activity Booklet

Next week we are excited to be able to share an updated All Stars Cricket 2020 Activity booklet with all past and present All Stars parents for them to download. Jam packed with eight different activity areas, introductions to cricket skills, quizzes and recipes from England players, the booklet has been adapted to be suitable for families whilst they are at home.

We'll share the booklet with you in next week’s bulletin so that you can access and share it with your networks as well.

In these turbulent times we are aware of a number of clubs and leagues sharing information on their finances including bank account details. On advice from ECB's IT Security Officer below is a timely reminder. Always remember, email is not secure.

When in receipt of personal or confidential information never assume it is authentic and always check its source. In the case of bank details always confirm before making payment but not using the contact details provided. If sending out a club or league’s bank details ideally use a secure route such as a secure email service or encrypted within a password

In addition to the advice that we are providing you regarding COVID-19, we would encourage you and your colleagues to regularly check the latest "Club Matters" government advice from Sport England which can be found here.

Club Matters provides guidance on keeping sports clubs running, keeping in touch with members and/or customers and provides case studies for what other sports clubs are doing across the country.

We would like to find a way to make these communications two-way, and to gather feedback from you on a weekly basis. Each week we will ask a few of questions, this week only three, via our survey here. We would hugely appreciate you taking the time to let us know your answers.

England & Wales Cricket Board, Lord's Cricket Ground, London, NW8 8QZ

COVID-19 EMERGENCY SUPPORT FOR LEAGUES

Dear all,

From today, leagues will be able to apply to our Return to Cricket Grant Scheme designed to help see you through the challenging next few months as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The Return to Cricket Grant Scheme aims to provide affiliated leagues (open-age and junior) with emergency assistance in exceptional circumstances. Full eligibility criteria can be found in the Guidance Notes.

Leagues can find out more information here.

Your County Board will be the first point of call when applying to the grant scheme, providing eligible organisations with an Application Form. Once completed, organisations will submit their Application Form to their ECB Regional Facilities Planning Manager for review. Contact details can be found in the Guidance Notes.

Frequency Asked Questions can be found here.

In addition, if you have any questions please contact the ECB Facilities Help Desk by emailing grantmanagement@ecb.co.uk.

Other support

There are also a range of other financial support packages that are available to recreational sport and we encourage you to investigate their eligibility for these, which are available immediately subject to meeting the respective criteria. These include, but are not limited to

Sport England: Community Emergency Fund

Please note there are criteria and conditions to support this initiative available via the website above.

England & Wales Cricket Board, Lord's Cricket Ground, London, NW8 8QZ