Alex Wakely has Northants testimonial postponed until 2021

The former Northants captain will now be honoured next year, rather than in whatever comes of this season, with COVID-19 likely to have a major impact on the county schedule

• County Hub

Alex Wakely has had his testimonial year at Northamptonshire postponed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

The former captain debuted in both red-ball and white-ball cricket in July 2007 and has since gone on to appear in 364 first-team fixtures, including two shy of 200 as skipper before he stepped away from a leadership role midway through the 2019 season.

Under the 31-year-old's tenure, the Steelbacks lifted the T20 Blast trophy on two occasions – the county's first top-tier honours since a NatWest Trophy triumph in 1992 – and he contributed 548 runs during the team's promotion-winning Division Two campaign in 2019.

The award of the testimonial, which came in February, followed Wakely agreeing a new contract with the club that will keep him on the staff until at least the end of 2021, during which time he will look to add to his tally of 6,531 County Championship runs.

However, he will now be honoured next year, rather than in whatever comes of this season, with COVID-19 likely to have a major impact on the county schedule.

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“The board of directors have unanimously supported the request from Wakers to postpone his testimonial year,” chairman Gavin Warren said.

“We believe Alex deserves the best opportunity to have successful year so we wish him luck in planning for that,” he added.

The series of events that had been revealed has now been cancelled and will be rescheduled in 2021.

“I’m gutted that I have to postpone my testimonial year but I also fully appreciate that there are far more important things to worry about at the moment,” Wakely said.

“Thank you to everyone that has helped to this point and I hope I can persuade you to help me again me when we start next year, stay safe.”