Reform proposals attacked as being 'a retreat'

Des Wilson, the chairman of the ECB's corporate-affairs committee, has delivered a blunt attack on those calling for reform of the first-class game, warning them that if they couldn't be positive then they should "keep off our pitch".

Wilson's comments came in a speech to the First Class Forum at Lord's, during which he announced the best attendance figures for seven years. Crowds were up by 38% for the Tests against Zimbabwe and South Africa, compared with those against Sri Lanka and India in 2002, he reported, while there was a 22% rise in attendances for the domestic season as a whole, boosted by the new Twenty20 Cup. The number of people attending County Championship matches was up from 505,202 to 530,938.

But Wilson issued a warning to those insisting that the domestic game needed changing, accusing them of destabilising the sport by saying that a number of counties should be closed down. He said that would "not be a reform but a retreat", and that the constant sniping risked undermining the ECB's negotiating position on broadcasting rights.

Wilson repeatedly highlighted the increase in attendances. "In commercial language, this is growth and growth is what every business and every business partner dreams of," he said. "That is why we object to the persistent talking-down of our negotiating position in relation to broadcasting rights.

"The so-called reformers tell us we should be businesslike in the way we run cricket. But what other business has to endure those who claim to be its friends going out into the marketplace day after day talking down its value? I say to the 'reformers', this is our business. If you can't be positive, keep off our pitch.

"They're advocating voluntary euthanasia when what the game really needs is an injection of confidence in its inherently good health," he continued. "We need a winning England to fly the flag for the game, to win converts and make money, but all for a greater purpose: to revive and drive forward our game.

"This is not Australia or South Africa, where a much smaller population is concentrated in relatively few places. We should not preserve the counties out of nostalgia for yesterday but because we need them today."