Clarke dismisses inequality claims

Not only is there a divide between the haves and have-not counties, if Leicestershire chairman Neil Davidson is to be believed, but there is also disagreement between the chairmen themselves.

On Wednesday Davidson claimed there was a gulf between the counties who host international cricket and the rest. He said that the major counties, plus Kent and Sussex, earned £17.6 million between them in 2006 while the other nine shared £6.6 million. He also claimed that Surrey received the most - £10.1 million - while Derbyshire at the other end of the scale got £2.4 million.

Clarke, whose relationship with Davidson is best described as civil, dismissed the claims in coldly polite terms. "It was deeply regrettable that Mr Davidson saw fit to release a paper which contained factual inaccuracies and ignored the findings of last year's independent KPMG report, which concluded that the international grounds did not obtain financial benefit after taking into account facility and operating costs from international matches."

And in today's Daily Telegraph Surrey chairman Paul Sheldon also disputed Davidson's comments. "We can refute every financial argument that he puts," he said. "The Test-match playing counties give £2 million a year to the centre, which is then redistributed among the smaller counties.

"His research and reporting, although some of it is quite interesting, is flawed by the fact that his figures are erroneous. I cannot understand why he would do this without checking his facts. It does not seem anyone supports his views because his facts are just wrong."