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Maybe Yorkshire should link up with Lancashire, Regan is taunted
YORKSHIRE'S chief executive Stewart Regan last night declined to be drawn into a war of words with his Somerset counterpart Richard Gould, who claims he is "arrogant" and "doesn't respect" county cricket.
Gould made his comments in the wake of the ongoing furore surrounding Regan's meeting with Indian Premier League chairman Lalit Modi in March, when the Indian businessman suggested a parallel IPL tournament centred on the UK's Test grounds.
Regan – who attended the meeting in Delhi with Warwickshire chief executive Colin Povey and Lancashire committeeman David Hodgkiss – subsequently outlined his enthusiasm for the idea in an e-mail to the Test match counties.
He wrote of "the size of the prize" – some $3m to $5m per Test ground per year plus a $1.5m staging fee – and the "huge upside" of an English Twenty20 competition that would involve the IPL franchises buying the Test match counties, although it would probably see the smaller counties excluded or forced into mergers.
Last week, Yorkshire chairman Colin Graves insisted there had been no such proposal discussed at the meeting and that it was simply "a fact-finding mission" to learn from the success of IPL.
But a clear schism is emerging in English cricket between debt-ridden counties such as Yorkshire, who are anxious to generate more revenue to fund redeveloped grounds like Headingley Carnegie, and the smaller clubs who do not stage Test cricket.
Gould said Regan had suggested to him that Somerset could combine in the new competition with Glamorgan and Gloucestershire, with home games to be played at Cardiff's SWALEC Stadium.
"We thought this was being wholly arrogant and I put to him (Regan) that maybe Yorkshire should link up with Lancashire," commented Gould, who believes Yorkshire, Warwickshire and Lancashire should now lose their right to host international cricket following the talks with Modi that have also drawn furious opposition from the England and Wales Cricket Board.
"I indicated to him that Somerset stretches from Bath right the way down to Land's End, which is a huge area and certainly one of the biggest county catchments on the circuit.
"We think he is being arrogant and he doesn't pay due respect to county cricket throughout the country.
"We are just getting fed up with the TMGs (Test match grounds) chasing cash to pay off their own debts that they have entered into. We feel that the Test match hosting grounds are trying to sell us down the Swanee.
"Their behaviour also brings into question their host agreements with the ECB, and I wonder whether or not they have breached these agreements and they should probably forgo their Test match hosting relationship."
Yorkshire – some 18m in debt – have made no secret of their desire for a new English T20 tournament that would ease pressure on their finances.
And Regan outlined his admiration of IPL in his e-mail to the counties.
"The IPL model relies heavily on 'star players' and this is why they have been so successful," he wrote.
"They have taken TV and sponsorship monies from the film and soap opera categories and brought women into the game like never before.
"Matches include fashion shows, after-match parties and entertainment. They have launched the word 'Cricketainment', which I think is really innovative.
"Players are now the new 'idols' in India and every one of them wants to be involved."
Modi has been given more time to reply to a show-cause notice by the Indian cricket board.
He has until May 15 to reply to a five-point notice accusing him of a number of financial irregularities and behaviour amounting to indiscipline.
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Weather for Yorkshire
Saturday 26 May 2012
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