London: The England and Wales Cricket Board has recorded losses worth £16.1m in a year that account for almost ₹143 crores in Indian rupees. The onus of this loss lies in the conditions that were faced due to the Covid-19 pandemic in the country.
The board's cash reserves have plummeted from in excess of £70m in 2016 to £2.2m in 2021. This means that the remaining cash reserves with the England and Wales Cricket Board are only ₹19 crores.
Scott Smith, chief financial officer at the ECB, said: “This has been a challenging year, but by being able to stage international cricket and by taking decisive action early in the pandemic, we have been able to support the network and avoid a far worse financial scenario.
“There remains considerable uncertainty over the year ahead, but we hope that delivering another full summer of cricket – and with crowds beginning to return from next week – we are able to protect the revenue we need to invest in growing our game.”
"This fall in revenue and profit reflects the significant impact that Covid-19 has had on ECB's finances due largely to the postponement of ECB's new competition, The Hundred, until 2021 and the additional costs of creating bio-secure environments to host international cricket in a pandemic environment."
The loss occurred mainly due to the curtailment of the planned series due to the Covid pandemic. The cost to set up bio-bubbles was also bored by the England and Wales Cricket Board. Cricket as a whole in England and Wales accrued revenue losses of more than £100m as per ECB.