As some of you will be aware, a number of people within Bowls Lancashire have today been contacted by Track and Trace with the instruction to self isolate. This relates to contact with someone who has unfortunately tested positive for Covid 19.
The upshot of this is that our Middleton Cup team for Saturday has been decimated and, with a relatively small pool of players to choose from, it is virtually impossible to field a team of a sufficient standard to enable us to compete against Durham.
A further major consideration is that on Saturday there would be upwards of 50 people gathering in a small area and coming from different parts of the country, some of which have very high incidence of infection. With infection rates increasing and an increasing number of people now being contacted by Track and Trace across England, there is a real risk that an issue could arise on Saturday which could give rise to further multiple people being contacted and instructed to isolate afterwards. A huge consideration in all of this is that this could impact on multiple events for Bowls Lancashire over the next few weeks and potentially ruin the remainder of our season.
Having regard to the above as a primary concern and also the fact that we are struggling to field a competitive team, I have consulted a number of players and a number of members of the Bowls Lancashire Executive. With great reluctance it has been decided that the most responsible course of action is for us to concede the match on Saturday.
Also tonight’s Mens and Ladies Singles QF/SF has been postponed.
I appreciate that people will be very disappointed but it is with everyone’s health in mind, along with trying to protect the remainder of our season, that this decision has been taken.