Durham Relegated

[Lord Tyrion]

Massive news in cricket. Durham have been relegated and Hampshire re-instated. It relates to a payment given by the ECB to Durham early on in the season, I think helping them out regarding the Sri Lankan test match. It is effectively like a team in football going into bankruptcy and losing x number of points.

Really cruel on Durham. They run on a low budget and have challenged and won the county championship on a number of occasions when many more illustrious teams with huge budgets have bombed. I hope that this doesn't tip them over the edge.

Foolish to have chased test match cricket. The amount they have to pay for it and the games they have been given just don't add up.

 

[Deleted member 18588]

I know that they now operate on a tight budget, no option really. But I think they may have been guilty of "chasing the dream" in the past and lived a little beyond their means.

This latest issue may only have been an accumulation of factors.

Still sad to see any issue like relegation decided in the committee rooms rather than on the pitch.

 

[patricks148]

its a big blow for them, be interesting if they manage to keep the England players. They' ve managed to produce a few lately,wonder if this will have a knock on effect??

 

[Lord Tyrion]

The budget wasn't blown on players. No big names, never have had. They over paid for rights to host test matches that never covered their costs. Probably went big on the ground before they should have although a lot of it for test matches is temporary seating, I think.

Sad thing is they bring through a lot of local players, have supplied England well over the years, and this seems draconian, brutal even. I think the punishment of relegation alone would have been sufficient, the rest just comes across as nasty.

I'm not sure this will affect the England regulars as they rarely play anyway. It may well cost them the decent county players who either have ambitions to play for England or who are not quite good enough for international cricket but do a solid job at county level. They have lost two of their best batsmen to Surrey already this close season, it is that level of player you may jump ship.

 

[Bunkermagnet]

The budget wasn't blown on players. No big names, never have had. They over paid for rights to host test matches that never covered their costs. Probably went big on the ground before they should have although a lot of it for test matches is temporary seating, I think.

Sad thing is they bring through a lot of local players, have supplied England well over the years, and this seems draconian, brutal even. I think the punishment of relegation alone would have been sufficient, the rest just comes across as nasty.

I'm not sure this will affect the England regulars as they rarely play anyway. It may well cost them the decent county players who either have ambitions to play for England or who are not quite good enough for international cricket but do a solid job at county level. They have lost two of their best batsmen to Surrey already this close season, it is that level of player you may jump ship.

Not a good thing having all the better players migrate to clubs in the top division, you will not get a good spread of players then. In fact I don't realy know whether having the 2 divisions is actually working or not.

 

[Deleted member 18588]

The budget wasn't blown on players. No big names, never have had. They over paid for rights to host test matches that never covered their costs. Probably went big on the ground before they should have although a lot of it for test matches is temporary seating, I think.

Sad thing is they bring through a lot of local players, have supplied England well over the years, and this seems draconian, brutal even. I think the punishment of relegation alone would have been sufficient, the rest just comes across as nasty.

I'm not sure this will affect the England regulars as they rarely play anyway. It may well cost them the decent county players who either have ambitions to play for England or who are not quite good enough for international cricket but do a solid job at county level. They have lost two of their best batsmen to Surrey already this close season, it is that level of player you may jump ship.

Spent pretty big on salaries for overseas throughout the years and Collingwood was, reputedly, one of the highest paid players in County cricket.

As for hosting Test matches the costs can often outweigh the benefits (other than Ashes), particularly if weather affected or if the game only goes three days.

When even established Test ground counties like Lancs, Notts, Warks and Yorks can struggle to make it pay it was a brave move on the part of Durham (and Hants) to go for Test matches. Safer bet would be to stick to ODI's and/or T20.

Haven't seen the details. Are you saying that there are other sanctions beyond relegation? If there are then that would certainly seem OTT!

 

[fundy]

Far more sanctions, they've been relegated (via a 46 point fine), start next seasons comps on minus points (-48 points in CC, -4 points in T20 and -2 points in 50 overs), been removed from the test rota (a good thing), salary cap been reduced for the next 3 seasons

 

[Deleted member 18588]

Yes have now seen this and whilst the financial mess they are in is worse than I thought these further penalties smack of "kicking a man when he is down".

Hard to see any other counties showing similar ambition in the future or even the established venues risking further improvements.

 

[fundy]

Obviously a sad situation and penalty seems on the harsh side to me, especially as the ECB have been at least partly instrumental in causing the debts through the bidding process for international matches.

With Borthwick and Stoneman off to Surrey, Colly at the end of his career, Stokes paid for mainly by England the salary bill will be greatly reduced, but so will their playing ability. Hard to see how they get out of the bottom division in the short term and could ultimately be the end of them long term

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Obviously a sad situation and penalty seems on the harsh side to me, especially as the ECB have been at least partly instrumental in causing the debts through the bidding process for international matches.

With Borthwick and Stoneman off to Surrey, Colly at the end of his career, Stokes paid for mainly by England the salary bill will be greatly reduced, but so will their playing ability. Hard to see how they get out of the bottom division in the short term and could ultimately be the end of them long term

What is their support like? I guess given their location they are always going to have get a degree of local support especially in the one day game but the penalties seem harsh and clearly make any challenge in any competition very difficult, especially if others players begin to leave. Sad to see, as they've done great in a short space of time but it does seem they've lived beyond their means whatever the reasoning behind it

 

[fundy]

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/...elling-them-to-turn-down-4m-bid-a7343276.html

interesting article on it here, not a fan of the journo, but even less of a fan of the ECB and even moreso now if theres a grain of truth in this

 

[Deleted member 18588]

But from that article I see that the Club/Owners were aware of the potential penalties attaching to the ECB bail-out. In which case your anger should surely be aimed at those owners rather than the ECB.

 

[Tongo]

The whole business of bidding for test matches etc is an absolute farce. Counties risking their own futures in the ECB's version of the lottery. They are a contemptuous governing body. Still too much of an influence from the MCC as well which is another farce.

Do any of the other test playing nations have the same set up? I'd be surprised.

 

[Deleted member 18588]

The whole business of bidding for test matches etc is an absolute farce. Counties risking their own futures in the ECB's version of the lottery. They are a contemptuous governing body. Still too much of an influence from the MCC as well which is another farce.

Do any of the other test playing nations have the same set up? I'd be surprised.

No other Test playing nation has a domestic cricket set-up anything like ours so it is unlikely.

 

[Tongo]

No other Test playing nation has a domestic cricket set-up anything like ours so it is unlikely.

Yeah, a system where the tail wags the dog. It always bemuses me how the counties have so much power despite not one of them being able to survive without ECB grants.

 

[Deleted member 18588]

Yeah, a system where the tail wags the dog. It always bemuses me how the counties have so much power despite not one of them being able to survive without ECB grants.

So who should hold the power? Recreational clubs? Minor Counties? PCA?

The counties produce the players who go on to play international cricket which then generates the funds to support the counties and others.

 

[Tongo]

So who should hold the power? Recreational clubs? Minor Counties? PCA?

The counties produce the players who go on to play international cricket which then generates the funds to support the counties and others.

The ECB (without the influence of the MCC) My point is that the counties seem to have too much influence.

Definitely more power to the minor counties though Have watched quite a bit over the last 3/4 years and its a most enjoyable experience.

 

[patricks148]

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/...elling-them-to-turn-down-4m-bid-a7343276.html

interesting article on it here, not a fan of the journo, but even less of a fan of the ECB and even moreso now if theres a grain of truth in this

After reading this you would be pretty peed off with the ECB if you were a Durham fan

 

[Deleted member 18588]

The ECB (without the influence of the MCC) My point is that the counties seem to have too much influence.

Definitely more power to the minor counties though Have watched quite a bit over the last 3/4 years and its a most enjoyable experience.

Financially they are supported by the ECB's payments to their Boards. Beyond that it is hard to see what else can be offered to them, their fixtures will not attract the attention of TV companies and, in any event, the First Class game already has too many teams relative to the support for County Championship games and the early stages of Royal London Cup.

The influence of the MCC upon the game has dwindled but is still often overstated.

 

[Beezerk]

What is their support like?

Crowd size?
I'm a member at the course opposite, you can see into the stands on some holes. It's usually empty when there's games on from what I've seen. There's been a few decent crowds but few and far between.