Anderson defends the county game in response to Atherton article

Somerset chief executive Peter Anderson was quick to defend county cricket in response to an article by former Lancashire and England player Michael Atherton that appeared in the Sunday Telegraph yesterday.

As we sat looking out across the County Ground at Taunton this morning he told me: "I'm saddened but not surprised to read `Grumpy' Atherton's first effort as a professional journalist in the Sunday Telegraph yesterday. He was obviously struggling to think of anything intelligent to say so he reverted to the easy target of bashing the county game.

"His article is full of generalisations but specifically he was totally wrong in stating that all the money coming into cricket derives from the activities of the England team. In fact 60% of the turnover at Somerset comes from our own activities without which there would be no professional club at all. For that we should be praised not pilloried.

"Like so many players `Grumpy' has no idea of the objectives laid out in the constitution of county clubs. Of course putting a competitive professional side into the field is the main objective but all county clubs are so much more these days. They are responsible for the development of talents and for the many grass roots initiatives currently being run to popularise the game with the young, all of which have staffing requirements.

"If he is to be taken seriously as a cricket journalist then he needs to get to know his subject. He should ask himself what he did for county cricket for which he was paid a handsome salary and a £350,000 benefit, money derived from members and supporters, many of whom probably couldn't afford it and are repaid by him in degenerative terms for the game they love. Of course he had large pockets in which to place the cash but as we all know there was very often something else in them.

"The success and popularity of sport does not rest solely upon who turns up to watch. If `Grumpy' had done his homework he would know that there is a tremendous passive interest in cricket, as 84,000 hits on the Somerset website for March clearly shows."