County Cricket Round-Up - 6th February

County Cricket Round-Up - 6th February

Derbyshire will hope that their new business strategy enjoys the same level of success as that of chairman Chris Grant's cricketing strategy.

©Action Images / Andrew Boyers

Derbyshire have continued to build for a prolonged spell in Division One of the LV= County Championship by announcing a six-point business strategy to go with the nine-point cricketing plan that was unveiled in 2011.

Many of the parts of the cricketing strategy have already been implemented with the most recent being the “landmark overseas signing” of West Indian batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul for the 2013 season. Others include the establishment of a specialist coaching fund which  has been used to employ David Houghton as batting coach, and the securing of several young home-grown players on three-year contracts. The final significant part of the strategy - that of nine of the first-team being English-qualified - is expected to be met next season.

With the cricket side taken care of, the club’s chief executive Simon Storey and influential chairman Chris Grant have turned their attentions to what Storey calls delivering “long-term business sustainability and financial security.”

He said, “Our primary objective as an off-the-field team is to engage effectively with sponsors, members, supporters, conference customers and the wider community of Derbyshire. The more effectively we achieve this objective, the greater our position will be to support and sustain a successful team on the field. We will also continue to work in close alignment with the Derbyshire Cricket Board to ensure a coherent strategy from playground to County Ground.”

The most significant point of the business plan is arguably the planned £2.5 million redevelopment of the County Ground, which, it is hoped, will lead to the ground becoming a contender to host matches in the 2019 ICC World Cup. 

Another key part of the plan is engagement with the local community and supporters. The club has already seen a sharp increase in membership sales ahead of 2013 thanks to various marketing initiatives. It has also formed an official partnership with the Derbyshire Cricket Board and has been involved in talks with Derby City Council about finding a solution for maintaining cricketing facilities in the city.

Finally, a new governance structure has also been proposed, which will see a Board of Directors appointed on the basis of having skills in specific areas. The chief executive, head coach and finance manager would be among the directors appointed to this new board.

County Cricket News In Brief:
Yorkshire fast-bowler Oliver Hannon-Dalby is currently on trial with Warwickshire. Hannon-Dalby has been told that first-team opportunities are likely to be limited again next year should he choose to stay at Headingly to see out the final year of his contract. Warwickshire are looking to bolster their pace attack ahead of 2013 as four of their current first-choice attack - Rikki Clarke, Chris Woakes, Boyd Rankin and Chris Wright - are involved with the various England squads.

Yorkshire Bank - a division of current sponsors Clydesdale Bank - will take over the sponsorship of county cricket’s 40-over competition next season. 

The BCCI has banned seven counties from sending players to Pune to spend time at the Global Cricket School in the city. The move comes following India’s Test series defeat to England at the end of last year and off the back of the letter that the BCCI sent to the ECB complaining about the involvement of a member of their Test squad - Steven Finn - in the England Performance Programme’s (EPP) accompanying tour of the country. The BCCI thought they had received assurances that the two squads were entirely separate and were further annoyed when Joe Root was promoted to the senior squad, having hit 166 in an earlier match for the EPP. Players from six of the seven counties involved - Yorkshire, Kent, Hampshire, Glamorgan, Gloucestershire and Nottinghamshire - are now expected to travel to Sri Lanka instead.

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