Tuesday, August 04, 2015

Northamptonshire cricket in crisis



George Dobell reports for Cricinfo:
The future of Northamptonshire County Cricket Club looks uncertain after a request to the ECB for emergency financial help and an examination of the benefits of selling their ground and moving to an out-of-town location. 
The club, who have already borrowed several hundred thousand pounds from a group of directors earlier this year, have been instructed by the ECB to undergo an independent financial review to ascertain whether they fill the criteria for borrowing. It is believed they require around £500,000 to meet urgent financial obligations. 
The ECB has assisted counties in the past but with a full-scale review of the professional game in progress, it cannot be assumed that further largesse will automatically be forthcoming. 
Whether Northants seek to move headquarters or even become the first of the first-class clubs to dissolve remains to be seen. Increasingly, though, the current arrangement appears unsustainable.
The photo shows the Northants side after winning the 1976 Gillette Cup. I used to go to Wantage Road quite often in those days. I never saw Peter Willey fail and I never saw Wayne Larkins score a run.
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4 comments:

  1. Gawain04 August, 2015 11:01

    Your phrase "I used to go to Wantage Road quite often in those days" may give a clue to Northants's - and I suspect Leicestershire's - travails. Not enough members, not enough walk-ups - no-one has or makes the time to go and relax properly watching the ebb and flow and the slow rhythm of the four-day game. With the result that from 2017 they will slash it and replace it with glorified rounders. Such a sad loss, but like the Beeching branch lines: use it or lose it.

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  2. Gawain04 August, 2015 16:14


    BBC report at odds with Cricinfo: downplays any problems

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cricket/33771563

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  3. Gawain04 August, 2015 20:10

    Dobell defending his story and with more detail in a video on Cricinfo this evening.

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  4. Jonathan Calder04 August, 2015 21:06

    Thanks Gawain.

    Another problem is the fixture list. I used to know that if I woke early on a sunny summer Saturday there would be a Championship game starting, if not at Leicester, then at Northampton, Derby or Trent Bridge.

    Today the fixtures seem chaotic.

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