Tony Adams eager for his annual Lord's pilgrimage: "I pray we can get over this as quickly as possible"

The global pandemic caused by the COVID-19 outbreak is set to heavily disrupt the upcoming cricket season but the ex-Arsenal and England skipper remains hopeful

• Coronavirus and cricket: Everything that's happened so far

• ECB advises suspension of all recreational cricket

Arsenal and England legend Tony Adams is keeping his fingers crossed that the Covid-19 crisis doesn’t wipe out one of the highlights of his year – a visit to the Lord’s Test.

Speaking at an event publicising the amazing work of his sports mental health charity, Sporting Chance, which he formed in 2000, he told The Cricketer: “I’ve always loved the game. I’m a big Essex fan, and Graham Gooch was one of my idols.

"Usually, I cannot wait for the season. I go to Lord’s regularly and I had my eyes on the visits of West Indies and Pakistan. I pray we can get over this as quickly as possible, and sporting events remain intact.”

On what he thinks might happen with football, he says: “We can only take it a day at a time. Now the Euros have been called off, I really hope the league can be concluded in June and July. Liverpool deserve that first title since 1990... of course, we denied them at Anfield in 1989!”

Sporting Chance have worked with all the first-class counties, in conjunction with the Professional Cricketers’ Association. 

“We have a 24/7 hotline and more than 200 one-on-one therapists, and we have helped many cricketers struggling through injury, low moods, depression, bereavement and panic attacks.

^{England's World Cup-winning women are among the groups to work with Tony Adams} 

"Actually we have also worked a lot in rugby league and I have really noticed a connection between that and cricket - off-season lulls, coping with similarly sized crowds and adulation.

"And goalkeepers in football – cricket is the ultimate individual team sport, and goalkeepers face similar pressures – in the spotlight, blamed if things go wrong.”

Adams says his most fulfilling work in cricket has been with the England women’s team. “They were an interesting group. They went from local girls smashing it at their local club for fun to becoming world champions in 2017.

"Suddenly they were recognised on the Tube and having one million followers on Instagram. That sort of thing was a real test for them. That was really interesting, and we had a great partnership.”

Adams was speaking at the launch of the partnership between the Professional Cricketers’ Trust and Sporting Chance. It will give all PCA members the opportunity for support with their mental health through Sporting Chance.