Lancashire delay announcement on ground future

Lancashire have urged their members to be patient while they continue to consider whether to move from Old Trafford. With renovations to the current ground expected to cost between £20million and £25million to bring the venue up to Test standards, the club is thinking of moving to east Manchester.

An announcement had been expected at the end of the 2005 season, but a site in Wigan came into contention at the last minute and, while Lancashire admit that they were keen to reject this from consideration, they felt honour-bound to explore all possibilities to avoid criticism, even though this slowed down the process.

Consequently, the committee are anxious not to rush their decision, as their chairman Jim Cumbes explained in a letter to members: "We have to be patient. This is a decision that involves the future of the club for the next 50 years.

"Just when we thought we were closing in on a decision, the possibility of moving to a huge site in Wigan popped up. Whilst to some degree, the Wigan proposal has complicated the situation, it nevertheless provides a viable opportunity as an alternative to Old Trafford or Eastlands. We have to give them time to work up their plan.The temptation was not to consider this, but then we could have been open to criticism from members for not looking into all options that were being offered."

The club, meanwhile, have announced a record profit of £580,164 for last year.