da aposte e ganhe： The financial ramifications of England’s refusal to play in Zimbabwe during the 2003 World Cup continue to be felt
Wisden Cricinfo staff27-Nov-2003The financial ramifications of England’s refusal to play in Zimbabwe during the 2003 World Cup continue to be felt, but a report in the Daily Telegraph claims that the brunt of the cutbacks caused by the loss of income will fall on club cricket.Barrie Stuart-King, chief executive of the Club Cricket Conference (CCC) and a member of the ECB’s recreational advisory group, told the CCC’s annual dinner that central funding to clubs was set to be cut to a far greater extent than it was to the first-class counties.He also revealed that a deficit of between £2-4 million had been unearthed in the ECB’s pension fund for staff and umpires.”The reasons for the cut include the uncertainty over the fine yet to be imposed for the England-Zimbabwe fiasco, estimated at £1.3 million, and the recently discovered black hole in the ECB staff and umpires’ pension fund," Stuart-King explained. "Neither has anything to do with recreational cricket.”And he delivered a stinging attack on the way that the funding was effectively controlled by “18 private members’ clubs” – the professional counties. "The ECB’s idea of ‘one game’ is a joke,” he said, but he admitted that the lower levels of the game were powerless to do anything but accept their fate.