The upcoming two Vitality Blast T20 matches involving Derbyshire has been called off as the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) confirmed on Wednesday (14 July) that Derbyshire CCC is left with very limited resources and won’t be able to field a team of strength in order to maintain the integrity of their last two matches.
As per the COVID-19 protocols in place, as many as 14 players from the Derbyshire squad have been asked to self-isolate as an unnamed player from the squad had tested positive earlier this week. In addition, six members of the squad are already nursing injuries and it became almost impossible for them to field a playing XI in their last two matches.
The Derbyshire Falcons were slated to play their last two clashes against Northamptonshire Steelbacks on 16 July and the Yorkshire Vikings on 18 July. These two matches stands cancelled and under the playing condition 16.11.4.5, the North Group will be decided on an ‘average points per completed match’ basis.
The two matches will be treated as a draw and both teams have been awarded eight points each for a draw plus the bonus points which they had collected before the match was called off.