COVID-19: Ashley Giles hopeful of getting some cricket later in the summer

As sporting action across the world has come to a halt due to the coronavirus pandemic, England's director of men's cricket Ashley Giles has said that he is hopeful of "getting some cricket in later in the summer".

The UK has been placed under lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic and the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has been working on a number of contingency plans but all of them are reliant on being given the green light by the government, ESPNCricinfo reported.

The ECB has already pushed back its domestic season until the end of May. However, England was slated to play the first Test against West Indies from June 4, but Cricket West Indies chief executive Johnny Grave has suggested that the tour may take place in July now.

"The priority is doing what we are told to be doing and a lot of what we hear in the news is naturally negative and bad news. We have to try and remain positive as well, I am positive we will get some cricket in later in the summer," ESPNCricinfo quoted Giles as saying.

"Exactly what that will look like I don't know, but we have to be when we are planning otherwise it becomes ever decreasing circles and we just get more and more down on the situation. Our jobs are perhaps to look at those scenarios positively because I do think when it is time, the sport will have a big role to play in bringing the country back to its feet," he added.

Giles also said that the ECB has not yet decided to cancel the series against West Indies and also said that international cricket and domestic cricket will be prioritised by the board.

"We are looking at how far we can push cricket back. That's what we're looking at right now and we're working with the other boards around the world on seeing if that is possible. There's obviously the Future Tours Programme and we're so busy with teams all over the place," Giles said.

"There will obviously come a point where you can't do that anymore and although we can play some white- and red-ball cricket alongside each other, you can't overlay them. You can't play two games on the same day. I don't think that's possible. So at some point international cricket is going to drop off," he added.

Earlier this year, England's two-match Test series against Sri Lanka was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.