Yorkshire's County Championship, along with Lancashire, have been moved from Scarborough's iconic ground to Emerald Headingley, in the wake of the UK government's delay in lifting COVID-19 restrictions.
It was hoped that the Rosé fixture, starting on July 11, would attract a daily crowd of over 6,000 fans, given the popularity of Scarborough, or "Scarbados", as it is colloquially known, its seas. Due to the coastal location and the atmosphere of the holiday.
However, the date for lifting the lockdown measures was recently postponed from 21 June to 19 July, due to a rise in new types of cases, and following a review of current government guidance, Yorkshire has determined that Scarborough's Locations of entry, exit and toilet facilities including lay-out, chokes make it unsuitable for hosting even 25 per cent of the crowd.
"At first we are extremely disappointed to have made this decision because we truly believed this stability would be unaffected," said Yorkshire chief executive Mark Arthur.
"We were expecting over 6,000 spectators every day in what would be a great advertisement for county cricket. After the government's roadmap was expanded, we expected social distancing guidelines to be relaxed as data showing encouraging signs."
Although both Yorkshire and Lancashire were keen to have the competition go ahead as planned, after extensive guidance and an externally funded investigation by a professional ECB – that capacity would have dropped to well below 2,000.
Such an appearance would have affected Yorkshire's coffers, as well as a disappointment to fans who had hoped to participate in the marquee fixes of both teams' championship campaigns.
"After exploring all possible avenues, we had to make sure that as many members as possible could participate in the match," said Arthur. “Organizing the match in Scarborough under the current restrictions will disappoint many of our members.
“Therefore, we believe that the fairest and most practical decision was to host the match at a venue that meets the security requirements and is comfortable for Yorkshire members.
"We are extremely sorry for those who now have additional complications around housing, but we wanted to make sure that as many members as possible could get involved."