Sussex Fined 12 Points for Being Poor, Told to Stop Being Poor by 2028
A county asked the ECB for help. The ECB helped. Then it docked them 12 points for needing to ask.
The framework
Before the season Sussex announced a three-year "financial framework" with the ECB, after sustained losses. Read what's in it slowly. A loan, repayable in full by 31 January 2029. Enhanced governance oversight. ECB observer rights at board meetings. An independent review of the board's skills and effectiveness, which is ECB for "we have met your board." A salary cap, 2026 to 2028. A business plan showing profit by 2027-28. A suspended £100,000 fine, which does not fall. It hovers. A point off in each white-ball competition. Twelve points off in the Championship.
A county in trouble asked its governing body for help. The governing body helped, and docked it 12 points for having needed to. It's a lifeboat with a cover charge.
The ECB banked more than £975 million from selling the Hundred this year. It has chosen this moment to be firm about a loan to Hove. Richest landlord in the country, wants the rent in cash.
The table
Sussex are fifth on 120 after ten games, deduction applied. Without it, 132, still fourth. The 12 points haven't decided the season. They've decided the mood.
| Pos | Team | P | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nottinghamshire | 10 | 148 |
| 2 | Somerset | 10 | 144 |
| 3 | Warwickshire | 10 | 140 |
| 4 | Glamorgan | 10 | 121 |
| 5 | Sussex | 10 | 120 |
Four rounds left. Three teams inside eight points. Notts are defending champions. Somerset joined the Championship in 1891 and have never won it, and their supporters have the same relationship with September that turkeys have with December. Warwickshire are eight back, which in this competition is one bad session or one good umpire. Gloucestershire, in Division Two, have 44 points from ten games. That is not a total. That is a cry for help.
The observer
Somewhere in Hove there is now a chair at the board table for a person from the ECB. They will be offered a biscuit. It will be noted in the minutes. The fine will hover above the meeting the whole time, like a wasp at a picnic, and everyone will pretend it isn't there.
I've never been to Hove. I've played first-team cricket in Perth's northern suburbs with eleven people watching, four of them related to the scorer and one of them a dog. I know the economics. Sussex will spend the last month of the season mathematically alive and institutionally on probation, and the 12 points will sit in the table where the ECB put them, as a lesson to any other county considering the reckless act of asking nicely.
Things I loved
- A £100,000 fine that is suspended. It does not fall. It hovers.
- The observer, the boardroom, the biscuit. I will report on all three.
- Gloucestershire's 44 points, which I have decided to find heroic.
