Lancashire set to lose millions of pounds following Manchester Test cancellation

The cancellation of the fifth and final Test between England and India in Manchester is estimated to heavily dent the Lancashire County Cricket Club, with early assessments itself suggesting losses to the tune of over a million pounds.

It is learned that Lancashire have vouched to reimburse to all those who bought match tickets. As per ESPNcricinfo’s report, the ground, which has a capacity of around 22,000, was sold out for the first three days with around 2,000 tickets remaining for day four.

Daniel Gidney, Lancashire’s chief executive, stated that the resulting losses would be massive, and admitted further that the club cannot take the financial blow alone.

“These are unprecedented circumstances,” Gidney said. “We’re in mitigation mode at this point. We will need to work through this with the ECB. “How big are our losses? We’re talking about significant sums here. We’re talking over seven figures. It’s multimillions of pounds. It’s very challenging. We will need to work with the ECB and others to support us through this.”

The final Test of the series was cancelled after the emergence of another Covid-19 positive case in the visitors’ camp, where assistant physio Yogesh Parmar tested positive on the eve of the final Test. Even as all the players returned a negative RT-PCR test, some of them had concerns regarding health and safety keeping in mind the increasing cases.

We’re absolutely devastated for all the disruption caused to ticket holders: Daniel Gidney

“My primary concern is everyone who has bought a ticket,” Gidney said. “I don’t think any of us had an inkling the game would be cancelled this morning

“The final decision was made just before 9am this morning. We’re absolutely devastated for all the disruption caused to ticket holders and hospitality buyers. They’ve looked forward to this for a long time. I’m incredibly sorry.

“The vast majority [of ticket holders] have been incredibly understanding and very patient. They’re upset and disappointed but they have been incredibly supportive.”

“We have a lot of people who have committed to five days’ work with us,” Gidney said. “We have work through that.

“We had built up reserves, but the first six months’ of the pandemic effectively ate through all that. So we’re back to scratch, really. But we’re a resilient club: we’ve been through two world wars and a pandemic. We’ll work our way through this.”