The England and Wales Cricket Board unveiled the blueprint for cricket’s continued success and development over a four-year period to 2009.

Then ECB chairman David Morgan and ECB chief executive David Collier (left) launched Building Partnerships at Featherstone High School in Southall, West London, with England captains Michael Vaughan and Clare Connor supporting the plan.

Building Partnerships, which maintains the ECB’s theme of ‘From playground to Test arena’, is built on four key pillars:

• Effective leadership and governance
• Vibrant domestic game
• Enthusing participation and following especially among young people
• Successful England teams

The key initiatives are:

Effective leadership and governance

• Reducing governance of the ECB to three committees – cricket, finance and commercial – by 2006
• Reducing the ECB’s Management Board membership from 18 members to 12 members – subject to approval at the ECB’s summer 2005 AGM
• Making 25 per cent of the fee payments to First Class Counties performance-related by December 2009

Vibrant domestic game

• Incentivising Counties to provide performance analysis for England qualified cricketers
• Providing performance-related fee payments to Counties for producing England cricketers
• Aiming to increase domestic audiences by 15 per cent at County matches over four years
• Rewarding Minor Counties with an average age of under 26

Enthusing participation and a following

• Increasing coaching in schools and clubs to 20,000 sessions per annum by 2009
• Expanding the number of focus clubs from 165 to 1000 by 2009
• Developing an ECB £5 million interest-free loan to grass roots clubs over the next four years

Successful England teams

• Implementing rewards for Counties who produce England players
• Establishing an England development squad of 25 players from which the senior men’s Test and ODI teams can be selected
• Developing heroes – three England cricket ‘superstars’ known by ten per cent of population by 2009
• Playing England A matches against tourists
• Expanding Loughborough to be the England National Cricket Centre, not just the England National Academy

Building Partnerships will come into effect from 2006 although several strategies will commence during 2005.

You can view Building Partnerships on ecb.co.uk:

• Download a complete version of Building Partnerships as a PDF document
• Browse our full online version of Building Partnerships here on ecb.co.uk

ECB chief executive David Collier addresses the launch press conference