TOM Harrison has warned that coronavirus could cost the England and Wales Cricket Board £380million in a worst-case scenario.

ECB chief executive Harrison outlined the potential financial impact of the virus when speaking to the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport committee yesterday.

This year's inaugural edition of The Hundred has already been postponed, there is no professional cricket before July and the scheduled Test series against West Indies and Pakistan are in doubt.

Harrison said: "We anticipate, with no cricket this year, a worst-case scenario could be as bad as £380million.

"That would be the loss of 800 days of cricket across all of our professional clubs and the ECB.

"That is the worst-case scenario for us this year."

The postponement of new competition The Hundred is a big blow for the ECB, given they were due to make £11million profit from it after selling 170,000 tickets for the men's and women's tournaments.

But Harrison still expects it to be a success when it is launched next year.

"In terms of the position we put ourselves in for The Hundred, right when Covid-19 struck, we were in a strong place," he said.

"The game had never sold that number of tickets at that speed before, with the exception of the Cricket World Cup.

"So we were in a strong position to achieve what we set out to, in terms of growing the audience for cricket in this country.

"The profile of ticket buyers was extremely encouraging. Young adults and parents coming with their children. Doing exactly the job we wanted it to do.

"There was a huge amount of momentum building around The Hundred, which we will carry into next year.

"I wouldn't categorise The Hundred as a gamble. It's a profit centre for cricket, as has been demonstrated. It was going to bring in £11m of profit to the game this year. It carries with it an extra dividend to the counties, which is critical revenue to them."