A Vaccine Passport?

'Give us back our freedom,' screams the tabloid press.  Government Ministers promise that hairdressers will open.  Non-essential shopping will soon be possible. The pubs will be not far behind.  Holidays are becoming a possibility. 

There is animated discussion about the utility and ethics of vaccine passports.  Fantasy Bob has mixed feelings about the passport concept.  But he thinks there is one situation in which it might be essential. 

Cricketers are quietly taking comfort from the fact that it looks increasingly likely that there will be something more of a season than last year.   The First Class season is already underway which explains the sudden drop in temperature.  The County Championship is now confined to the only parts of the year not dominated by pink and white ball action and is shortly to be re-designated as an official winter sport (and might seek entry to the Winter Olympics as a result). 

Outdoor practice for clubs has already resumed, and junior leg spinners at Fantasy Bob's club have been relishing an easy victim with the return of his iconic figure to action as he casts injury, age and general ineptitude behind him. 

So who is considering the role that vaccine passports play in cricket this season?  Should a batsman show it before taking guard.  Surely not.  

In last year's truncated season, tea was proscribed.  It was deemed too dangerous.  Lots of breathing, mingling and touching things.  Players had to bring their own sustenance and chew it in socially distanced space around the boundary.  Unsatisfactory.

But this year?  Surely tea will be back?  

FB cares little for the pubs, inessential shopping or holidays abroad.  But he urges the Advisory Committees to get their act together on tea.  They must come to the right decision.  Empire biscuits depend on it.

And this is where a vaccine passport could prove its worth.  The advantages are obvious - the time honoured rituals of cricket tea could go ahead, and the unvaccinated scavengers of the junior section would be kept well away from the goodies.

Available only to holders of approved vaccine passports.