Hundred payment to Yorkshire CCC CEO raises questions over finance in cricket

The investigation by the Cricket Regulator into the payment of £1.75m from Yorkshire CCC to a company controlled by the club’s current CEO, Sanjay Patel, raises much wider questions about finances around the game.

Cricket is almost a religion for a lot of people in Yorkshire. People still turn out in their numbers to play the game during the summer months. And whenever Yorkshire CCC is in action, its fortunes are followed closely.

The game has historically embodied a sense of fairplay and sportsmanship. The fact that a little club in Saltburn has been at the centre of an alleged cheating storm these past few days is a reminder of how seriously these values are taken across the sport.

Fans want to see this sense of fairness and transparency to run through all levels of the game.

Cricket’s administrators have long talked about the need to put the game on a sound financial footing. It’s widely accepted that the sale of the Hundred, a competition that few purists wanted, has done just that for county cricket.

However, that should not mean that there is an absence of scrutiny.

The Cricket Regulator's investigation relates to a payment of £1.75m to SMP73 Ltd in Yorkshire’s 2025 accounts for “corporate broker services in connection with the sale of Northern Superchargers Limited”.

This isn’t just about Yorkshire or any other county. But a question that cricket needs to ask itself now. Does the game of cricket exist to make money or does it make money to exist?