London, May 28 (IANS): The suspension of England's domestic cricket season has been extended to at least August 1, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) said on Thursday. The previous suspension was scheduled to end on July 1.

"The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) can today confirm a further delay to the start of the professional domestic cricket season, with no domestic cricket to be played before 1 August.

"The specifics of the season remain subject to ongoing advice from UK Government and health experts, but the ambition remains to host domestic men's and women's cricket across England and Wales later this summer," said the ECB in its statement.

"The Professional Game Group (PGG) will look to outline a number of opportunities for domestic play, which will be presented to the ECB Board in June."

"Naturally we want to see cricket being played at every level," said ECB Chief Executive Officer, Tom Harrison. "We remain hopeful of seeing both domestic and recreational cricket this season and planning with the PGG has allowed us to map a number of potential scenarios for domestic play.

"While 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. That can only happen though 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 statement did not talk about the scheduled international series against Ireland and West Indies which are scheduled to take place in July.