Giles Clarke, Free to air ashes series

[jwebber86]

i was listening to BBC radio coverage of the cricket. at lunchtime they had an interview with giles clarke. firstly i think he sounds to much like a politician and just waffles on when they were just looking to have the question answered.

but my main query was about how giles clarke thinks that grass roots cricket will be ruined by having free to air ashes series. he quoted that about 25% (19.2 million) of the ECB income is given to grass roots cricket with this money it has helped a lot of clubs to survive and prosper which has enabled more coaches and better quality facilities

i was wondering if anybody knows of a club that has been helped by the ecb? because they are not any clubs in my area that i know of that has been helped by all the extra money!

[Autobahn]

Maybe Gower is a better interviewer but i thought he was more precise on the sky interview. Still dodging stuff and giving himself an escape route but that's to be expected.

[Neil Pickup]

The major contribution is the Chance to Shine initiative in state schools which creates the exposure and involvement. This is all ECB-funded through focus clubs and has the typical effect of encouraging interested and able youngsters into the club and county game.

Then there is all the funding for the age group competitions, schools' kwik cricket, initiatives like cricket force, club knock-outs, minor counties fundings, the Premier League club structure...

[Richard]

Many of which were there pre-Sky Sports deal and could quite easily be continued with if county chairmen and committees were persuaded to waste less money especially on shipping in overseas players and employing as full-time pros players who have absolutely no hope of ever being remotely good enough to enjoy success in the county game.