PCA Chairman Vikram Solanki Speaks Out - 13/09/2009

"It is obvious that the demands of trying to govern the whole gamut of our sport from the England Team down to the smallest grass roots operation is too much for the current structure and personnel. The PCA propose the formation of a powerful and genuinely representative Professional Game Board to act as the consultation body for all decisions affecting the professional game so that confidence in the governance of our sport can be restored amongst all stakeholders. In the interim, the PCA would encourage the ECB to consult more widely and in good time and with an open mind about the vital issues facing our game and to swing the balance back towards cricket, rather than taking a purely commercial approach to every decision.

The last 18 months have seen enormous change in the cricket landscape both internationally and domestically and our governing body, the ECB, have had to make major decisions that will affect the future structure and pathways of our professional game. The PCA are conscious that these decisions must take into account the need for a balance between the interests of cricket as a sport and the interests of cricket as a business and all must operate within a global sports political environment.

Without losing sight of the difficulty of finding the correct balance, the PCA are concerned that recent decisions and processes have not been in the best long term interest of English cricket, but have been made for short term economic gain and to cover deficiencies in the ECB's ability to operate effectively at the top table at the ICC.

Of particular concern have been: -

• No consultation about or explanation for the introduction of ‘county rewards' into the new prize money structure that sees Counties receiving prize money directly for the first time in the game's history
  
• The ECB's refusal to acknowledge player concerns or cricketing implications of introducing age related incentives into their new funding arrangement with the Counties.
  
• The dismissal of player views and the recommendations of the ECB Cricket Committee that a 50 over competition be retained within the structure for 2010 to reflect international cricket; opting instead for a new 40 over contest weeks after the announcement of the scrapping of the Pro40 contest. ICC recently stated that World Cup 2015 would also be 50 overs
  
• 83% of cricketers believe that the 50 over format should continue if it is played at international level
  
• The ECB's refusal to include the players in the domestic structure debate with reference to P20
  
• The lack of leadership demonstrated throughout the ill conceived and poorly communicated process for introducing 12 month contracts into the game'

In addition ECB have: -

• In retrospect the decision to do a deal with Stanford was ill-advised, embarrassing and damaging to English cricket
  
• Cost the game multi-millions in revenue by failing to achieve part ownership of the Champions League
  
• Devised a P20 format and working party that sat over a 9 month period, only to collapse in June leaving expectant counties short of £150k incremental revenue that had been assured them.
  
• Proposed to reduce the domestic game into 3 competitions but increase the number playing days.

As a direct result of the above and the lack of appropriate communication and consultation from ECB, current professional cricketers have very low confidence in the ECB's ability to run our game in the best long term interests of English cricket. In a recent poll the following statistics were recorded -

• Just 11% have confidence in the overall leadership provided by the ECB"