Caborn hails ECB

5 July 2006

Richard Caborn

Sports Minister Richard Caborn has praised the England and Wales Cricket Board for encouraging more youngsters to take up the game.

Replying to a question from Selby MP John Grogan, Caborn stressed the importance of the investment made by Sky Sports in cricket in ensuring that the England team are competitive.

Caborn said: “Had it not been for all the investment of television money in cricket, I do not think that we would have won the Ashes, which was a great feat, or had the coaching programmes and central contracts that the England and Wales Cricket Board now has.

“One must pay credit to the ECB for the modernisation that it has gone through.

“It can now choose a team that can take the Ashes - which that team did, and we wish it well over Christmas and the new year in Australia - and also get more young people under coaching in cricket than there have been for many years.

“Credit must go to the ECB for that, and the funding - whether we like it or not - has largely come through television revenues.”