Lancashire chief takes aim at ‘old white entitled men’

Will MacphersonSun, May 10, 2026 at 7:59 PM UTC

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Daniel Gidney suggested that the rebels’ ambitions are misguided - John Phillips/ECB

Lancashire’s outgoing chief executive called a group of mutinous club legends “old white entitled men”, intensifying the sense of civil war at the county.

Clouds have been gathering over Old Trafford in recent weeks after a dispute between a band of club legends and the board, who the rebels say do not have the requisite cricket knowledge.

Since Telegraph Sport published a deep dive into Lancashire’s off-field woes on Thursday, the atmosphere has become more hostile.

The rebels had submitted a vote of no confidence in the board, which will lead to a fifth special general meeting in less than a year. But in response to the submission, the board suddenly decided that rather than a list of names, the rebels needed “wet signatures” to force an SGM, despite this not being the case previously. A video circulated from the 2023 AGM showed the club confirming that electronically-submitted petitions are acceptable. In response, the club have received more furious correspondence from the rebels.

The board also announced that the club’s AGM, which is likely to take hours, will be sandwiched between a Vitality Blast double-header on bank holiday Monday. It may be that the signature shenanigans is just a delaying tactic so the SGM comes after the AGM.

Meanwhile, in another broadside, Daniel Gidney, the chief executive, described those upset to have their applications to join the board dismissed out of hand as “old white entitled men”.

“Let’s look at a vote of no confidence in our board,” he told the Sunday Times. “We’ve got a number of women and we’ve got John Abrahams and Navin Singh, and this feels a bit like, ‘I’m an old white entitled man that wants to get on the board of the club’, and they don’t like the fact that in our County Partnership Agreement [with the ECB] we have to have 40 per cent women on our board and 22 per cent representative of ethic minorities.

“They acknowledge that it is not legally binding but they want to put pressure on the board to resign.”

Gruesome defeat by Middlesex adds to tension

Naavya Sharma, the 20-year-old Middlesex seamer put in another reputation-boosting bowling performance - Kate McShane/Getty Images

Lancashire’s off-field problems have been supplemented by an ugly defeat by Middlesex, who are hardly in great fettle on or off the field themselves. But Lancashire lost all 10 second-innings wickets for just 45 to swing a low-scoring game Middlesex’s way.

This was Lancashire’s second successive defeat, and even in the first half of May, is a nasty blow to their promotion hopes. Middlesex have skipped ahead of them in the table. For Lancashire’s restive and passionate fans, a third straight season in Division Two would be too much to bear, whatever the balance sheet might say, or however well the women’s team are performing.

Having lost three quick wickets on the second evening, Lancashire lost seven for 36 on the third morning to be bowled out for a miserable 84. Their first-innings lead of 32, then an opening stand of 40, had looked significant, but Middlesex needed just 117 to win.

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Not even captain James Anderson, who has 27 wickets this season, could bail the batsmen out this time. Despite a wobble either side of lunch, caused not by Anderson but the rapid England prospect Mitchell Stanley, Middlesex got home by six wickets. Ben Geddes made a terrific 73 not out.

For Middlesex, Ryan Higgins took the first four wickets to fall, then Toby Roland-Jones the next two. The finishing touches were provided by the promising 20-year-old Naavya Sharma, who struck with his first two balls of the third day. The hat-trick ball was edged for four by Tom Bailey, but Sharma dismissed him by the end of the over, and had soon wrapped up the innings with a spell of four for four in 10 deliveries. Sharma has a beautiful action, but this was a devastating burst to end a Lancashire innings characterised by listless prodding.

If it was up to the club’s leadership, this match would have been taking place behind a paywall. They announced in April that all their men’s matches, starting with this one, would cost money to watch online. But, last week, they were forced into a U-turn, “following feedback from members and supporters”. Maybe after all, fewer eyeballs would have been preferable, given how gruesome the action was.

Atkinson concussed by Tongue deliveries

Gus Atkinson was struck on the head by two Josh Tongue deliveries in three overs - Ben Hoskins/Getty Images

England have suffered an injury scare days before naming their first squad of the summer as Gus Atkinson was ruled out of Surrey’s meeting with Nottinghamshire, having been twice hit on the head by Test team-mate Josh Tongue.

Atkinson was withdrawn from the match and replaced by Reece Topley after being hit hard on the helmet in successive overs by Tongue, arguably the most hostile bowler in England right now.

Atkinson was playing in just his second game of the season, but his concussion will rule him out of playing against Yorkshire at Headingley on Friday, which was seen as a key part of his build-up to the first Test of the summer at Lord’s on June 4. Next week’s match is the last round of Championship action before the Test summer.

England are expected to name their squad for that match this week, after the appointment of the Australian Marcus North, director of cricket at Durham, as national selector. Assuming Atkinson’s symptoms do not worsen, he is likely to still be named in the squad, but is a doubt for the first Test because he does not have much cricket under his belt.

Atkinson was hit by short balls from Tongue when trying to hook in the 102nd and 104th overs of Surrey’s first innings, in which they made 449, a lead of 34. After the second, Atkinson fell to his knees but, following a long inspection from Paul Steele, Surrey’s head of science and medicine, was allowed to continue.

Eventually, at the end of the 115th over, with Atkinson on 27 and having shared more than 50 with Jordan Clark, the umpires signalled to the Surrey balcony that they felt he needed to be taken out of the line of fire, and he was retired and replaced in the match by Topley under county cricket’s concussion protocol.

Tongue bowled with pace and hostility throughout Surrey’s innings for four for 89 from 27 overs, including bouncing out another England team-mate Jamie Smith. By stumps, Notts were back in front by 65 runs, with Ben Duckett 35 not out.

Elsewhere, Harry Brook made just 26 as Yorkshire careered towards defeat at Edgbaston, while Ben Stokes took two more wickets in Durham’s nine-wicket victory over Worcestershire. Two prospective England openers, Ben McKinney (87) and Emilio Gay (51), scored unbeaten half-centuries as Durham eased to a victory that had seemed unlikely when they conceded a 40-run first innings deficit.

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