Until today, the English cricketing summer had been about as unaffected by the Covid-19 pandemic as could realistically have been hoped.

While, as with everything, there was a four-month pause during lockdown, which wiped out plenty of the season, England’s men have since been able to fulfil all their international obligations as well as putting on the T20 Blast and a replacement for the County Championship.

Illness scares have been few and far between. Jofra Archer missed a Test for breaching England’s bio-secure bubble, Nick Gubbins self-isolated after coming into contact with someone who tested positive, and Jordan Cox missed a game for an ill-advised selfie. But everything had, in a way, proceeded as planned. Fans began to return to the stands, and as the season neared its close, it seemed the worst might be over.

The abandonment of Northamptonshire’s fixture with Gloucestershire after a non-playing Northants player tested positive for Covid-19 has therefore rocked the county cricket world. It is a reminder of how lucky cricket has been this summer; a couple of early positive tests and cancellations could have seen much of what has already happened put in jeopardy. But it could also have sizeable repercussions for what is to come.

While both Northants and Gloucestershire were out of Bob Willis Trophy contention at the start of their fixture, the two teams currently occupy the top two spots in the Central Group in the T20 Blast. It is not yet known what the Northants diagnosis means for their players’ availability for that competition, and much of what follows is speculation.

A couple of things we do know: some members of the Northants squad for the Gloucestershire Bob Willis Trophy game had come into contact with the ill player within 48 hours of him developing symptoms. And Northants’ Blast and first-class teams are markedly different. Only two members of their most recent Blast playing XI – Brandon Glover and Saif Zaib – were named in the squad to take on Gloucestershire.

If it is only the players who came into contact with the ill player who are asked to self-isolate for two weeks, as per government guidelines, it might be that Northants’ Blast campaign can be relatively unaffected. Even if all members of the Bob Willis Trophy squad need to go into quarantine, the Steelbacks might still be able to field some sort of XI in their remaining Blast games. Wisden.com understands the player was not involved in Northants’ T20 Blast campaign, but if he were, that could be more problematic.

However, if one of those quarantining players were to test positive, the situation could shift significantly. That might mean not just a larger swathe of the Northants squad needing to go into self-isolation, but potentially significant chunks of the Gloucestershire team too. The – unlikely but not impossible – worst-case scenario would appear to be both teams being unable to fulfil their remaining Blast fixtures. That would mean nine of the remaining 15 Central Group games would be wiped out. How the Finals Day qualifiers would be decided in that situation would be quite contentious.

English cricket has already dodged plenty of Covid-19 bullets this summer. It remains to be seen whether this is a glancing blow, or something more serious.

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