Sussex confident head coach Jason Gillespie will be allowed to return

Sussex are confident head coach Jason Gillespie will be back at Hove before the opening game of the county season on August 1.

Gillespie, 45, returned to his family home in Adelaide when the coronavirus spread shut down English sport earlier this summer and requires an exemption from the Australian government to leave the country to return to work here.

Australia are currently limiting overseas travel to those who are part of a response to the Covid-19 pandemic, working in critical industries, or have urgent or unavoidable personal business to attend to.

Sussex are confident head coach Jason Gillespie will be back in time for the start of the season

However, the club have sought permission for him to resume his duties here as early as next week.

The ECB could announce a schedule for the regionalised four-day Bob Willis Trophy as early as Friday, although discussions are ongoing as to whether the matches will carry first-class status as the counties wish.

To be so, they would need to remain 11-a-side affairs — although concussion and coronavirus subs would be permitted — meaning careful management of bowlers’ workloads, reducing matches to 90 overs a day from 96 and placing a 120-over limit on first innings.