English cricket chief feels heat

LEICESTERSHIRE chairman Neil Davidson has called for England and Wales Cricket Board chairman Giles Clarke to resign over the body’s close links with Allen Stanford.

The ECB have ceased negotiations with Stanford after it emerged he had been charged over a “massive fraud based on false promises” in the US.

The controversial Texan agreed a deal with the ECB last summer for five one-off encounters, to be played annually each November, with an overall prize fund of $20million per match.

Davidson feels the close ties with Stanford have damaged the game’s reputation and that Clarke should bare the brunt of the blame.

“He should be taking full responsibility for this,” Davidson said.

“It has been a tacky episode in English cricket and I personally think it’s serious enough that he (Clarke) should resign.”

Clarke is currently set to be voted in unopposed for a second term after hisonly challenger, Lord Marland, withdrew earlier this month.

Davidson added: “We’ve recently had an election where there was a newcandidate and that was Lord Marland, who withdrew because it was clear hecouldn’t win.

“If there was a new election no doubt Lord Marland would be a leading candidate.”

The Leicestershire chairman also criticised the decision to take part in the Stanford Super Series, claiming it was a knee-jerk reaction to encourage players to resist the pull of lucrative Indian Premier League.

He added: “All of a sudden international cricketers had the opportunity to earn a similar wage to football players.

“Our senior players were saying ‘we’re hauling our butts around the world playing Test cricket, when we could earn more for six weeks work in India playing Twenty20’.

“That’s why we got involved in Stanford; it was an effort to get money in the players’ pockets.”

Davidson claimed the Twenty20 for 20 game against the Stanford Superstars last year had sullied English cricket.

“This is the England cricket team,” he said. “The powers that be rented it out for a prize fight. That’s not how the game should be run.”

Clarke himself is determined to stand his ground despite the mounting pressure and has stated he will not be resigning.

He has received the backing of Middlesex chief executive Vinny Codrington, who believes the ECB chairman was just doing what he thought was right for English cricket.

“I firmly believe Giles would have done it with the best intentions for English cricket. I am sure Giles would have done his due diligence about it and that 18 months ago he seemed to be acting in the very best faith in order to try to keep English cricket,” he said.