Middlesex have been fined £50,000 and handed suspended points deductions for breaching financial regulations.
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) will cut payments to the London club by £150,000, with 100,000 of that suspended until October 2025.
The points deductions – equivalent to one win each in the LV= County Championship, Metro Bank One-Day Cup and Vitality Blast – are also suspended until October 2025.
The sanctions placed on Middlesex come after a review into the funds given to the club and its cricket board, with the Lord’s-based team accepting they have “been financially mismanaged over a number of years.”
The ECB will now oversee Middlesex financially, with the club needing to produce a written business plan for approval and monitoring, one that separates the core business of Middlesex and the Middlesex Cricket Board.
The financial plan will include budgets up to the end of October 2025 showing a sustainable year-on-year profit, with limits on spending on players.
ECB chief executive officer Richard Gould says the governing body must ‘take appropriate action’
ECB chief executive officer Richard Gould said: “We have agreements in place with all our county cricket clubs and county cricket boards to ensure that ECB funding is used appropriately and for the purposes in which is it intended.
“Where breaches of our Regulations and Agreements take place, it is right that we take appropriate action.
“It is vital that all our members have the necessary governance arrangements in place to ensure ECB funding is used appropriately.
“We will work closely with Middlesex County Cricket Club and Middlesex Cricket Board in the period ahead to ensure the conditions we have agreed are met.”
Middlesex CEO Andrew Cornish added: “Middlesex is determined to ensure that the financial management and governance of the club going forward is of the highest standard and we are resolved to work closely with ECB to ensure that this is the case.”
