Durham rebuff calls for review of ECB punishment in 2016

GEORGE DOBELL: Chief executive Tim Bostock admits the sanctions, including relegation and a points penalty, were harsh but wants the club to move on

Tim Bostock has admitted Durham was “decimated” by “devastating” ECB sanctions but has resisted calls for a re-examination of the case.

Bostock, the club’s chief executive, was reacting to an open letter published by The Cricketer last week which called for a review into the episode and the potential perception of a conflict of interest that might be seen to overshadow the decision.

But while he insisted the “punishment did not fit the crime,” Bostock admitted he was not in “favour of the wounds being reopened” in case it served “to jeopardise” the relationship the club now has with the ECB.

And, talking to talkSPORT’s Following On podcast, he suggested the ECB chief executive, Tom Harrison, accepted the organisation had “got it wrong” with the severity of sanctions but were now working, with a sense of guilt, to help make some amends.  

Durham were stripped of the right to host Test cricket in October 2016 after they were obliged to call on the ECB for assistance having slipped into severe financial difficulty.

They were also relegated in the County Championship, hit with a 48-point penalty the following season and forced to operate within strict budgetary controls. As a consequence, they lost several players – including five internationals – and any realistic chance of competing financially to sign new players.

^{Durham are focusing on returning limited-overs men's international cricket to Chester-le-Street (Clive Mason/Getty Images)}

“I must admit, the punishment definitely didn’t seem to fit the crime,” Bostock told talkSPORT. “The club was completely decimated. Not just financially but with morale. It was a real doom and gloom scenario. I’m not understating what happened. It was absolutely devastating.

“We lost five international players plus two or three others we wouldn’t have lost. And we also lost the opportunity to sign players who would have come to Durham. Rebuilding a squad without a Man City chequebook can take a generation, to be honest.

“If you spoke to people who are still around at the ECB now – and Tom Harrison is clearly there - I think Tom would admit that now. They’d probably admit they got it wrong.

“But in the period I’ve been here, the ECB have bent over backwards to help us out and be supportive.

“Is that slight guilt? It might well be. They've tried to put right some of those wrongs. It might not be a consolation to the members. But they have been supportive in recent times. Guilt-edged, maybe. But at least they’ve done it.”

"I can’t see how much benefit that would give to us. We’ve moved on. We’re on a trajectory that is more positive. I can’t see any benefit in looking back."

While Bostock remains open-minded to the return of Test cricket to Chester-le-Street, he stressed that their current plans were focused more on hosting limited-overs cricket. 

“Would I say we wouldn’t ever want Test cricket back here?” he said. “No, I wouldn’t say that.

“But this model works for us. We’re guaranteed ODI cricket until 2024 and I fully expect we’ll continue with ODI [or T20I] status. The bit we had to give away with our Test status.

“What I would like to see is rather than getting some of the beginning and end of season type Tests against not so glamorous Tests sides - they’re not great in this part of the world in terms of the economic model - our preferred model is to be awarded, every other year, two ODIs, or a T20 and an ODI.

"That would go some way towards filling that gap. If you’re not going to get the middle of summer prime Tests, it’s a real risk in this part of the world.”

Former England and Durham quick Steve Harmison (Stu Forster/Getty Images)

Pushed on the issue by Steve Harmison, the former England and Durham fast bowler who now works as a pundit for talkSPORT, who called the episode “a disgrace”, Bostock suggested “quiet diplomacy” would prove more beneficial for the club than a full-scale investigation.

“I’ve seen the letter,” Bostock said. “[But] I’m not sure we’re in favour of the wounds being reopened.

"I think a lot of our members would be in favour of reopening them. But I can’t see how much benefit that would give to us. We’ve moved on. We’re on a trajectory that is more positive. I can’t see any benefit in looking back.

“I’m just not sure what the end result would be. It might make us feel better. It still now, even five years on, is very raw. But I’m thinking what benefit is there for us to get involved in this spat? Behind the scenes, in terms of our future plans, in terms of a hotel and improving our facilities, the ECB are helping.

“I don’t want to jeopardise that, to be perfectly honest. We want to move on together.

“And I do think there’s a slight guilt about the severity of the punishment and the ECB are looking to put it right. Quiet diplomacy behind the scenes is probably the best way to do it. I’d normally go really hard but I think there’s another way to skin a cat on this one.”