The raging Covid-19 pandemic caused England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) a loss of 16.1 million pounds in the financial year 2020-21.

The loss has been transferred to the England board's reserves.

"This has been a challenging year, but by being able to stage international cricket and by taking decisive action early in the pandemic, we have been able to support the network and avoid a far worse financial scenario," said Scott Smith, chief financial officer at the ECB.

Last year, the board had made a profit of 6.5 million pounds.

Smith, however, sounded hopeful for next year.

"There remains considerable uncertainty over the year ahead, but we hope that delivering another full summer of cricket -- and with crowds beginning to return from next week -- we are able to protect the revenue we need to invest in growing our game," he said.