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Collier insists England committed to Stanford

David Collier, the chief executive of the ECB, has said that the board has no plans to withdraw from its five-year deal with the Stanford organisation

Cricinfo staff
09-Nov-2008
David Collier, the chief executive of the ECB, has said that the board has no plans to withdraw from its five-year deal with the Stanford organisation.
Collier was present for much of the eight-day event in Antigua and both he and his board came in for widespread media criticism regarding many aspects of the deal. But speaking to the BBC, Collier said that it was not true that the tournament was, as some claimed, an embarrassment, nor were there plans to reconsider England's participation.
"I don't think it'd be appropriate to pull out at this stage," he said. "It's only right and proper we go through a review and learn the lessons and say what it is we can improve.
"We have still to go through a full review and I think there are areas we would wish to discuss. But the benefit to cricket, particularly in the Caribbean, and to our own community sport, should not be underestimated at the time of a global recession.
"Everybody is going to be struggling to raise funds for a number of years and I think we've achieved some very major advances in our community sport. We mustn't let that wither on the vine. We must continue to fund that."