Surrey hopeful they will be able to play both Twenty20 and first-class cricket this summer

Surrey remain hopeful that they will be able to play both Twenty20 and first-class cricket this summer, chief executive Richard Gould has said.

“We’re optimistic there will be a season. Not just an international season, but a county season,” he said.

As well as the T20 Blast - the priority for counties - Gould believes some form of first-class cricket could still be possible. “If we only get a short window and you can’t create a meaningful competition we should still be playing some first-class cricket to help England and the players themselves.”

Earlier this week, Telegraph Sport revealed Surrey’s plans for how to open the ground to 6,000 members while adhering to social distancing. Gould is determined to explore all avenues to allow some spectators in for some matches this year, and to avoid there being no county cricket at all between September 2019 and April 2021.

“There have to be baby steps at some stage to get back to some sort of normality,” he said. “Three or four thousand people or even 2,000 people would be a great start in a 30,000 seater venue.

“If that doesn’t happen, we’re in a unique position as we’ll be going over a year and a half between when we last had people in the grounds and when we next do. There’s no other sport, industry or leisure sector that has the risk of going a year and a half without anybody in the ground.”

Gould said that it was “absolutely” worth playing some county cricket this year even if no crowds at all were permitted, and matches could only be live-streamed. “It is the right thing to do and I am sure all of the other counties are feeling the same way.”

There have been suggestions that, for smaller counties, it might now be worth taking players off furlough for only a few weeks - Surrey and Lancashire are the only two counties to avoid using the government scheme for players.

“I am confident that they will all want to play cricket,” Gould said. “I can’t say that they all will but it depends on their business.”

Gould stressed that Surrey opposed the idea of private investment in the Hundred. Telegraph Sport revealed that the Indian Premier League side Kolkata Knight Riders were among those interested in investing in the competition if it was opened up to private investment.

“With cricket largely being members’ clubs, you know that in good years when money is made, it’s not being taken out of the sport by shareholders or used to re-finances the purchase of the club, which seems to be the American way of doing things. When cricket makes money, you know it goes right back into the sport.”

Gould said that the financial consequences of COVID-19 would bring new pressures to all levels of the English game.

“We’ve been told there are no sacred cows and all elements of the game are going to be evaluated next year in terms of costs. The Hundred, same as county cricket - we need to make sure we’re spending the appropriate money in each areas in terms of investment in the game and crowds and where value is coming from.

“I don’t know what we can afford next year. Whether it’s The Hundred, county cricket or international cricket. I know the ECB are doing a lot of work on the finances to understand the options.”

Surrey announced a record pre-tax profit of £6.3m for the 2019/20 financial year, helped by their total of 13,500 members. But Gould admitted that the financial climate would bring new pressures to the club in the years to come.

“With a recession looming we have to have to adjust our business and the structure of the club to make sure we can continue in a healthy way.”