Ashes legacy excites Collier

David Collier points to the huge interest in recreational cricket

ECB chief executive David Collier is sure England's Ashes triumph last summer will be felt for many years to come.

He claims the huge interest in the 2005 series - arguably the greatest in the history of the game - has paved the way for an Ashes legacy that will benefit English cricket at all levels.

The ECB has been building on last summer’s Ashes success throughout the winter, and the signs are that the effects are being felt most strongly at junior and club level.

Collier said: “The Ashes legacy is a 30 per cent increase on club memberships, a six-time increase in Kwik Cricket, and what we are seeing is a huge grassroots resurgence in cricket.

"We have seen an almost 50% increase in participation across all forms of cricket.

“That augurs well for the future because the future of the England side is built on the strength of grassroots, so we are hoping this will set up a very healthy future for England cricket.

“There has been a lot more media attention and that has to be good because it does raise the profile, not only of the England players, but the game as a whole.”

Collier also called on terrestrial broadcasters to make more of an effort when the bidding for Test matches comes around again.

Sky secured exclusive rights until 2009 when the contract was awarded this summer, meaning there is no live cricket on free-to-air television until at least then.

However, Collier is keen for terrestrial broadcasters to return to the market.

“The current deal runs through to 2009 and
2007-08 is when people will start looking at the next one,” he added.

“But rather than the ECB putting things in place a lot of the broadcasters are putting things in place.

“A lot of the criticism the (House of Commons) select committees had was very much for the number of terrestrial broadcasters not bidding.

“What has been particularly rewarding is seeing companies like the BBC coming and bidding for highlights for the World Cup.

“What we are hopefully seeing is the recommencement of engagement with the terrestrial broadcasters who hopefully are showing an interest in filming cricket in the future - and that is what we all want.

“There was not a large number of terrestrial broadcasters (bidding) at the time of the last round of deals and what we would like to see is those terrestrial broadcasters - now that cricket is very much one of the predominant sports in this country - coming in and bidding for those rights as we go into those next round of deals.”