ICC decides to shut office amid COVID-19 threat, men's T20 World Cup in jeopardy

The outbreak of the coronavirus has led to the shutdown of several workplaces across the globe. In these desperate times, even top cricketing boards have started declaring work from home for their employees. Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) last week announced that they would shut their offices temporarily and give work from home to all its employees.

Amidst all that is going on with the coronavirus outbreak, International Cricket Council (ICC) has decided to allot work from home for the majority of its employee. ICC’s main officials including chairman Shashank Manohar and chief executive Manu Sawhney are preparing to have a call on a video conference to talk about the cricket calendar which has been or will be impacted due to the outbreak of the pandemic. There is no update on when this call will be conducted but it is expected to happen really soon.

ICC allots ‘Work From Home’ to the employees

Major cricket tournaments have been either delayed or cancelled. The outbreak of the coronaviruses has impacted and created a crisis situation in the world of cricket. Start of the English County season could also be delayed as England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) had recently announced that there won’t be any professional cricket in the country until May 31st.

Spokesperson of the ICC recently revealed that the council has decided to step up and help its employees. “Like the rest of the world, the ICC is following guidelines from authorities and in line with the approach of our members, the majority of our staff are now working from home,” he said as quoted by Hindustan Times.

“Our priority is to protect the health and well-being of staff whilst remaining fully operational. The team has the full remote working capacity and as a result, we can keep the ICC fully functioning while keeping our staff, their families and the wider communities safe,” he added.

Due to the spread of coronavirus, there is also doubt on the upcoming men’s edition of the ICC T20 world cup to be hosted in Australia later this year. It has been reported that the staging of the tournament remains in doubt. The Australian government is focusing on dealing with the coronavirus threat at this moment and rightly so.