ECB release further support package worth £35.7m

This latest funding comes after agreement from the governing body’s board to further accelerate payments from across the 2020-21 planned distribution budgets

The ECB has announced details of a further financial package worth £35.7m to support professional and recreational cricket through the coronavirus pandemic.

The news follows an initial emergency package released on March 31, with £61m released then to ease the economic burden caused by the Covid-19 crisis.

This latest funding comes after agreement from the governing body’s board to further accelerate payments from across the 2020-21 planned distribution budgets.

As a result, £30.22m will be made available to the first-class counties and to the MCC on August 1. That figure comprises the early release of six months’ worth of core payments from the County Partnership distributions, as well as the early release of the remaining Hundred payments.

A further £5.5m will be opened up to county cricket boards on the same date, also via the early release of core payments from the County Partnership distributions.

In addition, recreational clubs can continue to access the £20m sum set out in March, available through interest-free loan scheme, ‘return to cricket’ grants and a 12-month holiday on loan repayments.

ECB chief executive Tom Harrison said: “It is the ECB’s responsibility to protect the whole game’s future during the financial uncertainty we face as a sport.

“We continue to work closely with all levels of the game to understand the challenges that are being presented and to map out a plan for the future. While I am pleased the ECB board has been able to approve this financial support package for the remainder of this year, we are still only at the beginning of addressing the impact of this crisis on cricket.

“We still should not underestimate the significant financial burden that is ahead of us across all levels of the game. We must seek to reduce the cost base across the game, as we face up to the sobering reality of what lies ahead of us.

“The response we have seen within the game has been reassuring and I know how much a return to the field of play would mean to clubs and players of all ages across England and Wales.

“It remains our priority to get cricket started again this summer, from the grassroots to the elite level, and we will continue to work with government to try and do that in a way that keeps people safe but that limits the ongoing impact of this crisis on our game.”

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