CEO Pro40 Policy 2009

Date: Monday 17 August 2009

Pro40 Policy during Games in 2009

The ECB funding of Counties works slightly differently between 2010 to 2013. The MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) is a strategic financial agreement between all counties and the ECB. Next season and beyond, to obtain an increase in level of funding from 2009, clubs need to play Five English qualified players under the age of 26 in County Championship cricket and 50 and 40 over cricket. If a County Cricket Club does not meet these age incentives then it will actually receive less financial support from the Governing Body than in previous years. Leicestershire simply cannot afford not to meet these age incentives.

The MOU also financially rewards clubs for playing Nine English qualified players in Championship and 50 and 40 over cricket. Clubs playing less than nine qualified players in 2010 will, in effect, be financially penalised. Leicestershire have taken a view that it can afford to continue with its policy of playing Eight English qualified players and Three Non-qualified players for 2010 but it will try to work towards a Nine/Two split as its English players mature and develop. (Non Qualified means cannot play Test Match cricket for England).

1. Club Policy for Pro40 Games during 2009 Cricket Season and Key Strategies for us in One Day Cricket

The Club has taken the following view of its Pro40 games:

The Club will use some of the Pro40 games to assess its younger players in One Day cricket and review the needs for the 2010 cricket season which will include Sixteen Twenty20 Games and Twelve 40 or 50 over games - Totalling 28 One Day games.

Our aim is to have a minimum of two batsmen in the top six capable of bowling a full quota of overs and we believe at this stage that those batsmen will be James Benning and Andrew McDonald (our Overseas Player for 2010).

We also believe in One Day cricket it is important that we play two spinners; Jigar Naik and Claude Henderson give us good options as they showed in this year’s Twenty20 competition and we want to see them play this season’s Pro40 bowling in tandem.

Boeta Dippenaar’s Captaincy during Twenty20 cricket and in Championship cricket has been outstanding and he has shown great patience and understanding of the current transitional and the development stage that the club is going through.

2. Current Contract Offers and Status

The Club no longer has a particular meeting date to review contract requirements; these are decided on an on going basis by the Chief Executive and Senior Coach and approved by the elected Board Members.

At this stage the players below have been offered new contracts for the 2010 cricket season and beyond:

Claude Henderson, Jigar Naik, Boeta Dippenaar and AJ Harris. We are also looking at bringing an experienced English qualified Top order batsman to the Club for the 2010 cricket season and beyond.

The players below are currently already contracted for 2010 onwards:

James Benning, Matthew Boyce, Nathan Buck, Sam Cliff, Josh Cobb, Jacques Du Toit, Harry Gurney, Andrew McDonald, Tom New, Paul Nixon, Joel Pope, Greg Smith, James Taylor and Alex Wyatt.

3. The Future

I do understand the frustration being felt by a number of our members at recent performances, but, as I have said, we need your support through the current transitional and development stage that the Club is going through.

In June 2008, the Club was top of Division Two in the four-day game and in the quarter-finals of the Friends Provident Trophy, and at that time it was playing six non English qualified players. This was clearly unsustainable and the ECB had already taken steps via work permit criteria and in the MOU that counties from 2010 to 2013 would be financially incentivised to play English qualified players under the age of 26 and Nine English qualified players in all games, excluding Twenty/20

The Club has had six of its young cricketers represent England Age Group squads in the last 12 months – Cobb, Taylor, Buck, Smith, Thakor and Collins. Alex Wyatt would also have played but for injury. We do also have a strong pipeline of young age group cricketers following through the ranks.

We have to ensure we meet all the criteria outlined in the new MOU from 2010 onwards and we will attempt to reflect a sensible balance between our young and senior role model players going forward. Please be patient and support us through this difficult but essential period of transition.

David Smith

Chief Executive Officer