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Durham claim future secure after admitting ECB bale-out talks
- Updated: May 16, 2016
Durham have responded to reports that they are pressing the ECB for a financial injection of more than £1m less than a fortnight before they stage a Test match against Sri Lanka by claiming there is “no imminent threat to the future of the club.”
A report in The Times suggested that Durham also want a restructuring of the repayment of their £923,000 staging fee for the second Investec Test against Sri Lanka. Without ECB assistance, the club will need to secure alternative loans to survive.
What the newspaper did not reveal was that Durham considered at one point relinquishing the Test, such were their poor advance sales. They are particularly aggrieved that the first Test is scheduled for Headingley, beginning this Thursday, leaving the two most northerly international grounds to stage successive May Tests – a fact they could not have anticipated when their bid was lodged.
Durham’s advance ticket sales are reportedly lower than 30,000 – about 50% lower than Headingley – a further indication that the novelty of international cricket is beginning to pale in Chester-le-Street and that the north’s traditional cricketing strongholds in Leeds and Manchester are beginning to punch their weight again after reversing decades of decline.
A Durham statement said: “The club confirms that it is in …
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