The Cheltenham Cricket Festival has been cancelled amid uncertainty over when the county cricket season will begin.

The ECB has already announced no cricket will be played until July 1, a date that falls during the middle of the festival's first scheduled match, and Gloucestershire County Cricket Club has now confirmed no matches will take place at Cheltenham College this year.

A statement from the club's CEO and chairman reads: "As we approach July, the Club’s preparations for the Cheltenham Cricket Festival would need to ramp up in order to deliver this annual showpiece event at the College Grounds.

"Due to the many and varied logistical and administrative issues we face in our planning, we are afraid that the Club have decided to cancel this year’s Cheltenham Cricket Festival.

"There are naturally some ramifications from taking a decision like this, but the first place to start is by stating that all matches currently earmarked to be played in Cheltenham will now be played at the Bristol County Ground, should these matches be confirmed on a re-jigged schedule the ECB are currently putting together.

"We trust that our supporters will understand that we cannot second-guess developments during this Covid-19 pandemic and need to make decisions based on the present situation we are faced with."

Whilst we cannot now proceed for 2020, we are already excited about putting on something special at Cheltenham next year, and trust that all our members and supporters will want to join us for this!"

All ticket holders for the Festival will be entitled to a full refund.