Counties face points deductions for financial losses under strict new ECB rules
Cricket counties will face automatic points deductions for making repeated losses under strict new financial rules that will be introduced next season.The Guardian has learned that the England and Wales Cricket Board is planning to bring in its own version of football’s profitability and sustainability rules (PSR) underpinned by points deductions in a shadow form next year to give counties time to adjust, before fixed punishments for clubs that fail to break even are introduced in 2028.The proposed new rules are understood to be similar to the financial framework operated by the Premier League and EFL, whose clubs are limited to making losses of £105m and £39m respectively over a rolling three-year period.The Premier League is dropping PSR next season in favour of new regulations that will cap player spending to 85% of a club’s football revenues, but the EFL’s profitability and sustainability limits will remain in place.Under the ECB’s version of PSR, counties would be required to show they are running profitable businesses over a four-year period, with fixed tariffs in place for those that consistently lose money.
The counties’ accounts would be monitored in real time by the ECB, who would have powers to intervene at the end of each financial year.An overspend in year one would result in an official warning from the ECB, followed by a suspended points deduction in year two and points being docked in year three if they continued to post losses.The ECB says it is acting to ensure the counties operate as sustainable businesses rather than relying on handouts from Lord’s and windfalls from the sale of the eight Hundred franchises, which raised about £500m for the sport last year.The allocation of the Hundred money – with £18m due to the host venues and £24m to the non-hosts – is already a source of tension with the counties, with the ECB insisting it can only be used for infrastructure projects or to pay off debts, rather than assisting with operating costs.The proposed new rules are also a response to the financial plight of Sussex, who were docked 12 points at the start of the season after being placed in special measures by the ECB for posting an operating loss of £1.
33m last year due to high spending on player wages,Yorkshire and Middlesex have also experienced financial problems in recent years, but the latter have been unable to access any of the Hundred funding as they have no debt and as long-term tenants at Lord’s do not own their ground,Counties are already subject to an annual salary cap of £3,17m for their men’s squads (£3,52m for Surrey and Middlesex), but will be forced to demonstrate profitability for the first time from next year.
This is likely to be challenging for the 11 non-Hundred counties in particular, of whom only Gloucestershire are forecast to make a profit this year,There are growing fears among the smaller counties that the sale of the Hundred franchises will cause them to fall further behind the bigger venues, particularly if the new owners demand a bigger share of the ECB’s next TV deal, which will go to market next year before starting in the summer of 2028,The Hundred is sold as part of a package with all England’s home international cricket, and given a value of around £50m a year by Sky Sports, but many of the new franchise owners would like to test the market by trying to sell it separately with a view to keeping most of the revenue,
British Steel: more questions than answers on the future | Nils Pratley
“One of the proudest things we have done in government,” said Keir Starmer in Monday’s big speech about the decision a year ago to recall parliament in order to take control of British Steel at Scunthorpe.It was an odd boast because last year’s action was merely an emergency exercise in saving the patient, as opposed to getting British Steel on its feet and out of the hospital. Taking control meant the Chinese owner, Jingye, could not turn off the two blast furnaces but meant the government was on the hook for operational losses, which will be £615m and counting by next month according to the National Audit Office (NAO).Full nationalisation is now on the cards, which will end the limbo-land state of ownership and give some comfort for 4,000 workers. But it is also the point at which the government will have to choose between its barely described “potential future options” for British Steel
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Mistaking AI behaviour for conscious being | Letter
Richard Dawkins’ reflections on AI consciousness are striking – not because they show that machines have crossed some hidden threshold into inner life, but because they reveal how readily we can be persuaded that they have (Richard Dawkins concludes AI is conscious, even if it doesn’t know it, 5 May).Many will recognise the experience: a system that responds with fluency, humour and apparent understanding. At some point, simulation starts to feel like presence. But that shift tells us more about human cognition than machine consciousness. The error is a category one
Google developers significantly misstate carbon emissions of proposed UK datacentres
Developers working for Google have significantly misstated how much carbon two proposed AI datacentres will contribute to the UK’s total emissions in planning documents reviewed by the Guardian.The tech company wants to build two huge datacentres – one 52-hectare (130 acre) project in Thurrock and another at an airfield in North Weald, both in Essex. To do so, developers are required to submit planning documents calculating how much carbon these projects will emit as a proportion of the UK’s total carbon footprint.In both cases, they appear to have compared one year of the proposed datacentre’s emissions with the UK’s entire five-year carbon budget, understating the significance of their emissions by a factor of five, according to experts at the tech justice nonprofit Foxglove.Greystoke, a company planning to build another datacentre in north Lincolnshire, one of the largest in the UK, also appears to have misstated the emissions of its project in the same way
Glamorgan beat Somerset to claim first home win in Division One: county cricket, day four – as it happened
Glamorgan’s overseas fast bowler Ryan Hadley was the unlikely batting hero at Sophia Gardens, doubling his first-class average to squeak the home side over the line against Somerset. Hadley, who was sent in on Sunday evening as nightwatchman, laboured for 231 balls to 50 not out, winning the game and bringing up his maiden half‑century with a straight drive. He was given a huge hug from partner Mason Crane, handshakes from Tom Abell and most of the Somerset team, before taking giant strides back to the applause of the dressing room. “I was telling the boys I hadn’t been dismissed since coming here, as a joke, so was saying earlier it’s inevitable they’re going to get me for the first time, but I’m still here – it’s a miracle,” he said.It was Glamorgan’s first win on home soil in Division One, and if it was methodically slow, no one was complaining
Is CTE really the main reason behind the rise in NFL player suicides?
When an NFL player takes his own life, there is often speculation about why. Injuries and unemployment – a common occurrence in a violent sport where players are frequently traded and cut – have been linked with increased risks of suicidal ideation. In parallel to those factors, however, exists chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). A degenerative brain condition caused by repeated trauma to the head, CTE’s links with football are established and almost impossible to ignore. Players ranging from widely admired Pro Bowlers such as Junior Seau and Dave Duerson, to those infamous for more notorious reasons, such as Aaron Hernandez and Phillip Adams, were all confirmed to have CTE by autopsies
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