County cricket clubs bidding to stage test cricket could lead to stadia going bust – according to Lancashire chief executive Jim Cumbes.
Cumbes told BBC Sport: ‘There are nine current Test match grounds, but only seven Test matches a summer’.
‘There is a danger, because not every ground can get the international matches, that a club could go bust’.
Lancashire missed out on staging an Ashes Test in 2009, but have since made a £32m investment in improvements into the Old Trafford cricket ground – including the construction of a new media centre.
Old Trafford was one of seven grounds to be awarded an Ashes Test in 2013 or 2015.
However, Headingley and the Rose Bowl, which have both hosted England test matches in the past – missed out on both series.
Cumbes added: ‘There are grounds that have been encouraged to develop and I suppose that they can expect to have the matches to fit that development. If they don't, they'll be miffed about it’.
‘After the allocation of matches, there will be two or three clubs out there that aren't satisfied’.
