East hails Essex players donation

Essex won the Pro 40 Division Two and FPT titles in 2008

Essex chief executive David East has praised the club's players after they used their own cash to help fund their pre-season tour.

Financial reasons forced the club to pull out of touring the Middle East.

But the players have donated the county's £75,000 winter payments grant from the ECB, which they were entitled to share between themselves.

"This is a demonstration of their commitment to being professional about their game," East told BBC Essex.

"They felt this was incredibly important for their preparation.

"We had no wish to cancel [the tour], but we had to make a budget decision and we're delighted we've been able to come to an arrangement at the players' suggestion and we're cracking on," added East.

East was keen to stress the players' generosity was not an indication of the club's long-term financial situation.

"I don't think one should read anything into this in terms of the financial stability of county cricket, that's simply not the case. It's just that this is a very challenging time for us personally," he explained.

He also reassured Essex fans the current budget concerns would not affect their plans to redevelop the County Ground.

"We've just got one more hurdle to go through and if that is resolved favourably we're all systems go," he explained.

"We've already announced we've had to delay completion until 2012 and we obviously sincerely hope the markets will have settled down by then."