Sport England increases the heat on county cricket

Sport England, the non-governmental organisation that distributes lottery money to sporting bodies, has the opportunity this week to influence the raging debate surrounding the future of county cricket. The organisation, which distributes £6million per year to help fund English cricket, has sent its auditors to Lord's to vet the ECB, and has been given a free hand to look at anything and ask any pertinent questions.

Despite an uncannily successful year for county cricket, in which the Twenty20 Cup made a triumphant debut and Sussex provided a romantic finale, the county game is under scrutiny as never before. Lord MacLaurin, the former chairman of the England & Wales Cricket Board, recently suggested that cricket would go the way of croquet unless the counties agreed to restructure, and even reduce their numbers from 18 to 12.

That argument has found favour in several influential circles. It has been endorsed by the Cricket Reform Group, which includes Michael Parkinson and the former England captains Bob Willis and Michael Atherton, and in an interview with The Wisden Cricketer this month, the current captain Michael Vaughan advocated a 50% reduction in county fixtures.

Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, Roger Draper, the chief executive of Sport England, warned that any recommendation made by the auditors would in all probability have to be implemented. A precedent was set earlier this year, when Sport England withdrew its £2million funding of the British Amateur Rugby League - a decision that led directly to the formation of a solitary rugby league body.

"I don't know what the auditors will say," said Draper. "But if they propose changes, and they may say cricket needs to slim down the number of counties, then we will accept the recommendations and sit down with cricket to implement them. I don't want to be sitting here in 10 years' time and saying participation has increased by 0.03 per cent in the last decade and we're still losing to Australia."

The auditors have been asked to address four key questions: the level of participation at all ages and an increase in clubs and membership, the success of the national team, and the efficiency of the governing body. Four years ago, £400million of lottery money was being allocated to sport, but this year that figure has more than halved to £160million, which leaves Sport England with little room for leniency or sentiment.