Lord Marland on Stanford, Clarke and television
Lord Marland is challenging Giles Clarke for the chairmanship of the ECB and hoping to tap into the split that is forming over Clarke's handle of his dealings with Sir Allen Stanford and the absence of cricket from terrestrial TV
Andrew McGlashan
25-Feb-2013
Lord Marland is challenging Giles Clarke for the chairmanship of the ECB and hoping to tap into the split that is forming over Clarke's handle of his dealings with Sir Allen Stanford and the absence of cricket from terrestrial TV. In wide-ranging interview with Peter Hayter from the Mail on Sunday, Marland outlines his plans for English cricket.
'The fact is that we have suffered a terrible period where nothing done by those running the game has been done well. I believed the decision to sell out TV rights to Sky in 2004 was breathtakingly shortsighted and I believe the decision to do so again this time round was just as myopic.
'Sky do a great job televising cricket, but the ECB continues to deny access to the vast majority of the viewing public. We've got to get cricket back on BBC or Channel 4, even if it is through a Match of the Day-type highlights package at the very least.
'People will ask where the money is coming from for my idea to raise £100m. There is already £25m in the ECB coffers lying untouched, but I'd raise an extra £100m on top and I'll do it the way I've always done it, for the Conservatives and for Boris Johnson and for a number of charities.
Andrew McGlashan is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo