Sky Sports Cricket commentator David ‘Bumble’ Lloyd says that he would “probably” have refused to play Tests this summer were he in the position England’s players are, because of fears over the effects of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

The impact of the novel coronavirus has brought cricket to a halt but it is scheduled to return on July 8 when England and West Indies are set to clash. The three Tests will be played behind closed doors in a bio-secure environment but Lloyd, speaking on the Sky Sports Cricket Podcast, still termed the venture a “massive risk”.

“I think it will happen,” he said of a potential restart. “Whether there’s a [second] spike, and there’s every chance that there will be a spike, from what I hear the authorities are absolutely geared to start on the 8th. I think it’s a massive risk.”

Lloyd said he felt the situation was more worrying than travelling to regions seen as dangerous because of the risks posed by terrorism, with what he termed a “total disregard” for guidelines to help stop the spread of the virus by the public feeding his concern.

“I’d be very wary,” he said, when asked if he were an England player being asked to play Tests this summer. “I would probably say no, probably. And just picking on [Michael Atherton]’s point, I was fearless, I’d go anywhere. I just wish it would have been going to Pakistan, then it wouldn’t have bothered me at all. During the troubles in Northern Ireland, I used to pop across to Belfast and do all sorts of things.

“But this is a total unknown, from day to day. That’s my worry and concern. I think it’s the only time in my life that I’ve been worried, just worried about anything. Because it appears to me that people are having a total disregard for it, the public.”