Somerset announce healthy profit

Somerset eased the disappointment of a poor season on the pitch with better news of it, as they announced an annual profit of £247,848.

Peter Anderson, the chief executive, said, "The turnover was up by £399,820 to £3,532,919 and this large surplus was achieved in part by fundraising for the club appeal year".

Somerset, supporters of the old format of all eighteen counties in one division, pointed out that professional cricket isn't just a £60 million business, as suggested by the ECB.

"Each and every county provides a boost to their geographical area local economies and of course there are employment advantages over and above just employing players," Anderson said. "The Cricket Reform Group and their supporters, who plainly cannot or will not give recognition to these issues - not to mention the development role of first-class and minor counties - do the game a great disservice serving selfishly their own agenda and profile".