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CRICKET ROADSHOWS

Week 11 Review - 20 Jul, Southampton Counties must adapt to survive

County clubs must adapt to increase their financial turnover or face going out of business – that was the stark message on Saturday morning's Cricket Roadshow.

And for anyone doubting the validity of such claims here are some statistics worth digesting:

In the past four years crowds at county matches have fallen by 17 per cent. Each county currently gets a £1.3m annual handout from the ECB Player wages are spiralling From next year each county will have two overseas players on their payrolls.

Tim Lamb, chief executive of the England and Wales Cricket Board, admits the future is bleak for counties not prepared to be flexible in their approach, especially if the ECB handout is reduced or withdrawn.

"I think many of them would struggle to survive," warned Lamb. "Some of our counties are now dependent for nearly three quarters of their annual income on money that they get from the centre. It obviously depends on the infrastructure and the resources that counties have but there's no doubt that most of the counties are dependent on the money that they get from the centre, which of course is their entitlement under the constitution."

One such progressive county is Durham, the newest to join the first-class ranks and already established as a one-day international venue.

David Harker, chief executive, explained: "If you look at the cricket industry those counties that are most successful in generating turnover are the established Test match grounds. Typically they will earn twice the level of turnover than non Test match grounds, therefore it became quite clear that that's where we needed to be.

"If we had not been successful in achieving international cricket then we would have had to take a long hard look at the structure of the business and the future of the club."

Derbyshire are one such club being forced to examine alternative revenue streams, in their case by selling off some of their ground to stay solvent.

"This club has got to find ways of using its facilities more than 50 days a year it does at the moment," warned development manager Colin Davies.

"That is not a good business if you just use it for 50 days. I think cricket has always said to itself, or tended to say to itself, 'we'll always do what we've always done' and it's a time honoured phrase in the coaching world that if you do that you'll always get what you always got. The world's changed, cricket has got to change."

The alternative, he stressed, would be disastrous: "If they don't, in 10-15 years they'll either be living on massive overdrafts or they'll be cricket development centres, they'll no longer remain as county clubs unless they change.

At Hampshire they have followed the same route as Durham, financing a purpose built new ground complete with practice ground, golf course, a health and fitness centre and banqueting facilities.

"That's what cricket's got to do, it's got to think beyond just the game it's got to think of itself as a business for the future," insisted presenter Sybil Ruscoe.

Hampshire Chairman Rob Bransgrove agreed. "It was very clear to me right from the outset that cricket itself is not enough to sustain a great stadium like this, it needs a great deal more than just 50 days of cricket or something.

"So we set out upon a plan to make sure we enhanced cricket with as many activities as we can to bring lots of people in here and of course have commercial opportunities."

The result is a stunning new ground and, from next year, the bonus of international cricket. "Financially it gives us a very good opportunity to start benefiting from international fixtures but more than that get our face on the map as an international venue," said Bransgrove.

Moves are already afoot to increase the present capacity up to 20,000, something that was catered for when the initial ground was designed. It is, in many ways, a blueprint for the future of county cricket in this country.

Elsewhere on the programme David Graveney announced the 13-man England squad for Thursday's opening npower Test against India, Nasser Hussain spoke candidly about losing the NatWest Series final, Sachin Tendulkar gave a hugely popular batting Masterclass and there was the usual round-up of county and international cricket fronted as ever by the urbane Mark Nicholas.

Mail the Cricket Show team at cricketshow@cricket4.com

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