search.noResults

search.searching

note.createNoteMessage

search.noResults

search.searching

orderForm.title

orderForm.productCode
orderForm.description
orderForm.quantity
orderForm.itemPrice
orderForm.price
orderForm.totalPrice
orderForm.deliveryDetails.billingAddress
orderForm.deliveryDetails.deliveryAddress
orderForm.noItems
Business News The Griffin Report


Jon Griffin, Chamberlink’s award-winning columnist, meets Neil Snowball, chief executive of Warwickshire Cricket Club, which is set for a ‘stunning’ summer of cricket this year. This will take place against the backdrop of the biggest ever shake-up in domestic cricket in the UK, which is being seen as vital to the game’s very survival.


Upbeat: Neil Snowball says the first day-night Test match at Edgbaston will be part of an exciting summer of cricket at Edgbaston


Edgbaston is all set for a ‘stunning’ 2017 season of cricket – as the national summer game enters its most critical period for decades in its battle for survival in the 21st century. A mouth-watering combination


of international and domestic cricket at the famous old ground – including the Champions Trophy, the first ever day-night Test Match and t20 Finals Day – will see the Birmingham ground host some of its highest profile cricket in years. Warwickshire CCC chief executive


Neil Snowball said an ‘incredibly exciting’ period was around the corner for the club – and gave Chamberlink a fascinating insight into the future of the increasingly lucrative t20 game in England. The Edgbaston boss told Chamberlink: “The next four years will be huge for the club, for Edgbaston and for Birmingham. And we are extremely optimistic for 2017 on and off the pitch, it has the potential to be a pretty stunning year.” Mr Snowball’s upbeat


assessment of the coming months comes weeks after Warwickshire posted a £1.84 million loss for the year to October 2016 following a


14 CHAMBERLINK April 2017


‘Demand has been phenomenal for the Champions Trophy and we are pretty confident we will sell out all our five games’


£4 million drop in revenue. He said estimates showed the


Champions Trophy – with five top international clashes scheduled at Edgbaston – would pump more than £25 million into the regional economy with restaurants, hotels, retailers and the like all set to cash in. Meanwhile, almost 40,000


tickets have already been sold for the first England day-night floodlit Test Match in August against the West Indies, while Warwickshire are optimistic that t20 Finals Day in September will again prove a money-spinner. Edgbaston’s rosy outlook for 2017


comes as domestic cricket prepares for its biggest shake-up in years, with a new city-based Twenty-20 tournament – described by Mr Snowball as a cross between the ‘NFL, basketball and monster truck racing’ – set to launch in 2020. “Demand has been phenomenal


for the Champions Trophy and we are pretty confident we will sell out all our five games. The day-night Test Match has the potential to


break a few records of its own, we have already sold 60 per cent more tickets for the match than we had sold for the England-Pakistan game this time last year. “We estimate that 42 per cent of


people who have bought tickets for the day-night Test have not previously bought tickets for Edgbaston. This is a huge year for us from a trading point of view.” He said the new 20-20


tournament due to launch in three years’ time would be domestic cricket’s biggest change since the launch of the format in England in 2003. Discussions are still underway between the ECB and the counties, but the competition is likely to be held over a 38-day period from mid-July to late August following completion of the existing T20 Blast earlier in the summer. “You will have a 38-day period


for a new EPL which will include eight teams in eight venues at the biggest centres of population around the UK. If there is a team here, it will be something like the


Edgbaston Devils, the Birmingham Bears or the Midland Marauders. “The whole point of this new


competition is that it would be totally different in terms of the way it is presented and the way it targets youngsters and women – it will be razzamatazz and show. “We need more money, there is


too much debt in the game and some counties are having a difficult time. We are over-reliant on broadcast revenue from the major Test series. Meanwhile, around the world, countries are focusing less on Tests as opposed to T20 and ODIs. “There is also a real problem


with people, playing, watching and engaging with cricket. Most of us working in it love the game with a passion but at youth and recreational level, it is declining. “If we are not careful, it could die


out or just become a minority sport and that would be tragic.” He said all 18 counties would


benefit to the tune of £1.3 million a year from the new tournament on current estimates. “Smaller counties will not get any games but they will get a nice big cheque. It would be an opportunity to pay off debts and get them on a more secure financial footing.”


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68