England could be pulled from the remaining fixtures in the $100million Stanford Super Series after the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, expressed his distaste for the chase for cash.
The ECB, which has already hinted that the remaining four fixtures to which it is contracted should be played by a scratch team of England players, has faced a barrage of criticism over its decision to take the national team to Antigua to compete for the first of the Texan billionaire's winner-takes-all prizes of $20 million.
However, according to UK newspaper The Guardian, the pressure to withdraw completely increased last night when in front of an audience of sports executives and administrators at the FT Sport Industry Summit in London, Andy Burnham questioned the decision of the ECB to take an England team to Antigua, saying that he did not believe the sporting public wanted to watch mercenary cricket.
“The event made me feel slightly uneasy and I felt the occasion was something of a hollow one,” he said. “We all understand the relationship between sport and business but if you get these two things out of their proper equilibrium, then it can turn people off at home. I just think cricket fans want to watch games where national pride is at stake, not where money is at stake.
“Andrew Flintoff made some comments that it might help reinvigorate cricket in the West Indies and that is clearly something we would support. I just think sport has integrity when it is sporting objectives first and national pride first. When those things are seemingly playing second fiddle to money, I don't think that's what makes sport sellable and gives it its appeal. It starts to detract from those things and that worries me.”
