Elected!

Phone transcript - Giles Clarke, at the time candidate for the vacant chairmanship of the ECB, phones one of the eighteen county chairmen.

GC - "Mr County Chairman, this is Giles Clarke"

Mr CC - "Morning Gles, how can I help?"

GC - "I'm just having a quick ring-round, seeing if I can persaude you to vote for me for ECB Chairman."

Mr CC - "What's it worth?"

GC - "What did you have in mind?"

Mr CC - "Well, here at Nottingham/Edgbaston/Manchester/Durham/The Oval/Southampton/Bristol/Cardiff we rely heavily on income from international matches to keep our head above water (unlike Worcestershire who relied on water wings most of the summer...) Seems a bit unfair that Lords gets two tests and at least two ODIs each summer, whilst the rest of us have to scrap over the remains."

GC - "I see what you mean. Vote for me and I'll see what I can do"

Mr CC - "Will do!"

Looks like the Chairmen are calling in their debts. Scroll down to 'Grounds for Concern'