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I am still getting over how Giles Clarke managed to get re-elected as chairman of the ECB. When, following the Pietersen-Moores affair, the lid was lifted on Sir Allen Stanford's dodgy dealings it seemed that Clarke's position, and that of his Chief Executive, David Collier, had become wholly untenable. Their fellow Board members immediately sprung to their defence. But, when pressed, they were forced to admit that Clarke and Collier had kept the details of the US$100 million deal to themselves. It transpired that the only due diligence test the ECB applied to Stanford was, basically: "Is this bloke good for the money?" You could apply the same test to Mexico's most wanted man, Joaquin Guzman. The 54-year-old drug lord was recently ranked 701st in the world's rich list with an estimated fortune of $1bn (£725m). But would we really want a cricket competition to be bankrolled by drug money? Perhaps I should allow everyone except Giles Clarke and the county chief executives who backed him to answer that. Mike Soper was spot on when he said that cricket's administrators now put more on finance than the actual game itself. Clearly, the finance side is vital, but the integrity of the product is just as important because without a decent product you don't have anything to market. Lord Marland of Odstock was wheeled out as a stalking horse, and even though he wasn't the most convincing of candidates you would have thought that Clarke's record in office - which also saw the ECB fall out with the Board of Control for Cricket in India - would have generated far more support for Marland's campaign than it did. But, in the end, Lord Marland only had the backing of four counties. I gather that Surrey were one of the waverers, but eventually came down on the side of Clarke, which, if it's true, is shameful. If Clarke fails to work his magic by conjuring up a new sponsor to replace Vodafone and things like the rumoured 20-over money spinner in the Caribbean, then woe betide any of the game's administrators - who have now saddled us with Clarke until March 2011 - complaining that the ECB has let down the game in this country. I thought it was rather noble of Jack Bannister to sever his ties with Warwickshire over their support for Clarke over the Stanford affair. Also, it would seem from the rumpus that another former player, Peter Walker, is causing at his beloved Glamorgan that he is none too pleased with the priorities being shown, along the lines of: "how much money can we make out of this thing?" When the Stanford thing blew up Giles Clarke claimed that he had received "over 9,000 e-mails" of support. If you weren't one of those who sent him an email, but would like to, his email address is giles.clarke@ecb.co.uk You would have thought that with there being such a strong focus on money, Surrey's accounts would be quite detailed. For the second year running, however, only the high-level financial statements accompany the annual report. I hope that many of you, who, like me, are members of the club, will request a copy of the full accounts. Last year it was extremely interesting to see what the published accounts failed to shed light on. The fact that Surrey have chosen, again, to omit the notes to the accounts suggests that the unabridged version, which, again, I have put a request in for, will be equalling revealing. One cannot fail to mention the recent attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore. Thank heavens there weren't more casualties. Apparently, when the Sri Lankans agreed to tour Pakistan, they were promised "presidential style" security. I don't call a three-car police escort presidential. Then, to add insult to near fatal injury, Chris Broad, the ICC's match referee, was criticised for saying that he felt like a sitting duck when the driver of his mini bus was shot and killed. The former Pakistan cricketer Javed Miandad said that Broad should be sacked for saying what he did. The match umpires Simon Taufel and Steve Davis, who were in the same mini bus as Broad, backed up his version of events - including their surprise that they were told to go on ahead without the Pakistan team bus for the first time that week. But, interestingly there haven't been calls for Taufel or Davis, both of whom are Australian, to be sacked by the ICC. Similarly, Sri Lanka's captain, Mahela Jayawardene, who was quoted as saying: "They [the gunmen] were not under pressure - nobody was firing at them," hasn't been criticised. The bottom line is that if there are safe houses in Lahore for the Lashkar-e-Taiba then there probably isn't anywhere in Pakistan where security can be guaranteed. A year before we can look forward (perhaps that's not the best choice of words) to two 20-over competitions involving Surrey in this country, Twenty20 cricket already appears to be dominating the domestic fixture list. I was looking at Kent's fixtures the other day and they have only got three championship fixtures before the break for the Twenty20 Cup. Mind you, a couple of them are at home to two of the weaker sides in Division Two, so, with Stuart Clark leading their attack, Kent could be handily placed going into the second half of the campaign with so many games in hand. Say want you like about the NatWest Pro40 League, which is being scrapped to create space in the schedule for the new Twenty20 competition, at least gives a number of up-and-coming players the opportunity to show everyone what they are made in the closing weeks of the season. For me one of the highlights of last summer was Surrey's Pro40 game against Leicestershire, where I first saw the likes of Sam Cliff, Greg Smith and James Taylor. What are the chances of seeing three youngsters breaking into the first team in either of the Twenty20 Cups next year? And, anyway, what kind of grounding will 20-over cricket give them? Finally, to get myself in the mood for the new season I have been transferring my videos of Surrey matches past on to DVD. It's funny how, even watching highlights of games from yesteryear, it isn't long before I find myself shouting at the television screen because Alec Stewart hasn't placed anyone behind square other than himself, or because Cameron Cuffy has dropped yet another ball short and wide of the off stump. If anyone would like copies of the DVDs, just let me know.
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