The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) on Thursday announced that there will be no domestic cricket in England until the end of August (at the earliest).

The ECB has suspended the start of the English domestic season twice already in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The English domestic cricket season was scheduled to begin from July 1, however, it has now been postponed owing to the rising COVID-19 cases in the United Kingdom.

Apart from postponing the beginning of the domestic season, the ECB has also postponed a Test series at home against the West Indies.

The ECB, however, is hopeful that the series may still take place in July as its Thursday's announcement doesn't speak anything about the country's international engagements.

In its announcement on Thursday, the ECB said that it was considering regionalised groups for the 18 first-class counties as well as allowing small numbers of spectators to grounds adhering the social distancing norms.

"However, we expect that international cricket matches in England this year will be played behind closed doors," the ECB statement added.

"As of when the domestic season begins, the matches could be streamed live via individual club channels," the statement added.

"Each and every one of us wants to see cricket being played at every level," reported NDTV quoting ECB Chief Executive Tom Harrison.

"We remain hopeful of seeing both domestic and recreational cricket this season," the report added.

"Whilst traditional formats of our competitions are the preference, we are not against exploring the unorthodox to ensure that we can return our players to the field," Harrison further added.

"That can only happen when it is safe, and we have said throughout this crisis that the safety and well-being of everyone involved in the game is our key priority," the ECB chief further said.