Ashes proposals put sport on a sticky wicket

The irony of yesterday’s recommendation that Ashes cricket be restored to the protected list is that this was an outcome few involved in the discussions wanted. For a sport that has been insulated from the recession, a reduced budget will be hard to take, writes Mike Atherton in the Times.

Where will the blows be felt? Across the board probably: central contracts for England players, grassroots cricket and the county game.

John Stern doesn't think making the Ashes free-to-air is that big a blow. He writes in the Wisden Cricketer: "I’m not convinced that the proposed re-listing of The Ashes does anything other than score the Government a few Middle-England brownie points."