COUNTY executives labelling themselves the ABC Party, or “Anyone But Clarke Party”, claim they have already secured seven of the 10 votes needed to defeat Giles Clarke when he puts himself up for reelection as chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board.

They are upset at the negative response to the Stanford challenge and critical of Clarke’s seeming inability to do good business on Twenty20 cricket with the ECB’s counterparts in India and Australia.

By far their most damaging allegation, though, is that Clarke and David Collier, his chief executive, did not inform other members of the 12-man ECB board that Stanford had been granted options to sponsor the English Premier League starting in 2010.

“It is a disgrace that board members were not informed of the details concerning Stanford’s involvement in the EPL,” one said. “It is a very serious breach. At the end of the day they [board members] are held to account for what is done in their name – they are now being held to account. The Stanford deal does not allow us to capitalise on the true value of the EPL. Clarke gave away the crown jewel rights. He used his heart rather than head when it came to Stanford. It was an incredible act of misjudgment.”

Another source said: “We have got an unworkable EPL at the moment. The board’s working party on the EPL does not have a mandate. Key figures have not been consulted. The board must think they know all the answers.”

The allegation that Clarke did not fully inform his board comes after Rod Bransgrove, the Hampshire chairman, last week called on the board to resign en masse over the Stanford deal. Some board members argue that they would not have approved it had they known every aspect of it. Clarke said yesterday he would write to Bransgrove about his remarks.

One of the rebels has been detailed to find potential candidates to stand next March against Clarke, who came to office last year as the glo-bal Twenty20 revolution was beginning. “Opposition is forming itself,” he said. “Early indications are that we have seven counties on board and seven likely to favour Clarke, so it w i l l b e a b o u t who wins over the remaining f o u r . I t h i n k Giles is aware of the hostility. We want him to be worried.”

T w o c o u n t y chairmen who may be encouraged to stand for the unpaid post are Bransgrove and David Stewart, at Surrey, though both men are thought to be reluctant. The full board will review the Stanford project at its next meeting on December 4. “There is real concern about where the game is going,” said one. “Peo-p l e a r e g o i n g t o d e m a n d answers.” Some counties will remain support-i v e b e c a u s e C l a r k e h a s increased revenue. He signed a four-year TV deal worth £300m in August and counties may also benefit from yesterday’s Stanford challenge. It has been suggested that each county will pick up about £70,000, though Collier denies anything has been finalised. Of course, a handout might sway a few floating voters come election time.

Clarke’s problems are exacerbated by the fact that some counties supported a franchise-based EPL competition. Clarke insisted the board should stay loyal to the county system. Were Clarke to be removed, the franchise idea might acquire fresh legs before the EPL starts, provided it doesn’t jeopardise the TV deal.

Some think that eventually English cricket will have to go down the franchise route as it would be the best way to instigate a reciprocal arrangement with the Indian franchises.

The success or otherwise of the EPL heavily depends on getting the leading Indian players involved as that opens doors to lucrative TV deals in Asia. At the moment, there is little incentive for the Indian board to release the 20 players England would like to see take part in the EPL. If the Indian franchises can market themselves in England, that situation would change.

The behaviour of Clarke and Collier on this issue has looked hubristic and they have received their comeuppance several times over as India have brokered one rich deal after another without them. “One of the saddest things is that we have lost our association with our great ally Australia,” one source said. “Australia would not be doing deals with India unless they had lost confidence in us. We have to get moving or all opportunities will evaporate.” Clarke responded yesterday by saying that he had been talking to India for the past two months on various projects and that these talks would continue. But the ECB have said such things before and nothing has come of it.