ECB cut costs with cheap flights

ENGLAND’S backroom staff could be downgraded to economy travel on future overseas trips as part of the ECB’s cost-cutting plans. Recently, entire England entourages have flown business class but Andy Flower was an economy passenger to Sri Lanka as interim director of cricket last autumn, and arrangements for non-playing staff are under review. An ECB spokesman said a decision is yet to be made, but it appears to be another sign of how the financial commitment to launching the new Hundred competition is impacting at the highest level. As revealed by Sportsmail, this winter saw player development spending slashed, while there was also concern in the Test squad that a specialist fielding coach was not present for the first few weeks of the current Caribbean tour. The ECB have haemorrhaged money over the past couple of years and although they have secured £1.2billion for their next TV deal, it does not kick in until 2020. The latest annual accounts showed significant successive losses had left the company reserve funds standing at £8.6million, compared to more than £73m in 2016. Such decline led to the North v South series being axed after just two years. England have a busy period of overseas travel between October this year and March 2020, with tours to New Zealand, South Africa and Sri Lanka scheduled.