Sport New Zealand has updated its guidelines after some Auckland cricket clubs told members that gear could not be shared between players at alert level 3, step 2.
Players, who say the rules just are not cricket, are delighted by Sport NZ's dismissal of the old guidelines.
They say they are now able to play and train properly as long as physical distancing is observed.
Nick Truebridge and cameraman Nick Morno report on some ropey rules that have been hit for six.
"Cricket is actually something that brings people together, and these were the rules I was able to identify that they're separating us," one player said.
"I'll be tougher for the new bowlers to learn, they have to bring their own balls and all that stuff," another said.
One of the rules stated that balls were limited to one per person, meaning clubs had to allocate one ball to each player for the entire training session.
Another rule meant no lingering was allowed before or after the game.
Auckland Cricket had been following broad the rules put out by Sport NZ.
"Before yesterday, the sharing of equipment including the ball was not enabled, therefore it didn't allow any match activities or any fielding activities," said Auckland Cricket community manager Dean Bartlett.
"So all you could really do was on a one-on-one have a live net with a teammate, but you having that ball throughout the training session and no other person touching it."
Some Auckland clubs outlined how cricket could be played at level 3.2 to their players.
"We weren't sure how long 3.2 would last, so therefore if we couldn't share the ball effectively, we didn't know when we could start playing even just small-sided games or fielding sessions," Bartlett said.
Luckily, the rules have been updated by Sport NZ, while old ones have been retired.
"We've been lobbying I suppose for more clarity around cricket in particular, up until last night when the sector update got released, cricket had not been mentioned in Sport NZ guidelines, which we felt was a little bit strange, selfishly, given ... we're a major summer sport within Aotearoa."
