Roses clash moved from Scarborough to Headingley

It had been hoped that the fixture would be played at the popular outground, with the game beginning on July 11 – three weeks after restrictions were initially due to be eased

The LV=Insurance County Championship Roses clash between Yorkshire and Lancashire has been moved from Scarborough to Headingley as a result of the delay to the lifting of lockdown restrictions.

It had been hoped that the fixture would be played at the popular outground, with the game beginning on July 11 – three weeks after restrictions were initially due to be eased.

However, given the requirements for sports venues to host spectators in the interim, extensive guidance and “a professional ECB externally funded investigation” dictated that North Marine Road could not meet the criteria, which include demonstrating social distancing at various points of the ground.

Yorkshire chief executive Mark Arthur said: “Firstly we are hugely disappointed to have to make this decision as we truly believed that this fixture would be unaffected.

“We were anticipating over 6,000 spectators each day for what would be a fantastic advert for county cricket. Following the extension of the government’s roadmap, we had hoped that social distancing guidelines would have been eased as the data continued to show encouraging signs.

^{Depending on the lifting of restrictions, Scarborough will host Yorkshire's first team this season}

“After exploring every possible avenue, we had to ensure that as many members as possible could attend the match. Staging the match at Scarborough under the current restrictions would leave many of our members disappointed. Therefore, we believe that the fairest and most pragmatic decision was to host the match at a venue that has satisfied safety requirements and can comfortably cater for Yorkshire members.

“We are extremely sorry to those who now have the added complications around accommodation, but we wanted to ensure that as many members could attend as possible.”

Yorkshire are still expected to stage first team matches at Scarborough this season in the Royal London Cup and the County Championship, although they remain dependent on government guidance.