Morgan denies Welsh conspiracy

In the wake of the furore over the decision to award an Ashes Test to Glamorgan, David Morgan has strenuously denied that English cricket is run by a Welsh 'Taffia'. Morgan, the ECB chairman who is based in his home country of Wales, rejected media accusations that the bid process was loaded in the county's favour.

"The process was transparent," said Morgan, who was quick to distance himself from the bid: "I have had no direct involvement in this decision at all." Furthermore, he added, all five members of the independent panel which evaluated the bid, The Major Match Group, were English.

"These are the people who made the decision by working to a balanced scorecard based on a number of factors, such as geographical spread, infrastructure and facilities," he told The Western Mail. "A lot of people were unhappy with the way staging rights have been allocated in the past and I was chairman of the board who wished to review the process."

He did admit, however, that he had influenced the appointment of the panel's chairman, Sir Bill Morris. "Yes, I persuaded Sir Bill to become the chairman of the MMG," said Morgan, "but it was that group who then studied the various bids. As far as I'm concerned, the process is beyond approach."

And he added: "There is no doubt that there is Welsh influence at Lord's. I am the chairman of the ECB, Hugh Morris the deputy chief executive, Duncan Fletcher - an adopted Welshman - is the England coach and Matthew Maynard is on the coaching staff. You can't deny any of these things or that Welsh people do have a degree of influence at the ECB.

"But why shouldn't we? After all, it is the England and Wales Cricket Board, but there are plenty of English people too who also have a degree of influence."

The ECB still have to ratify the decision, but this is likely to be a formality when the decision makers meet on May 3.