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A group of MPs led by Durham North’s Kevan Jones have called on English cricket’s governing body to explain its treatment of Durham County Cricket Club , and restore Test matches to the North East.

The club received financial rescue packages worth a total of £7.5m after running up debts which threatened their existence.

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), which runs the sport in this country, offered a £3.8m package, while Durham County Council converted £3.7m of debt into shares in the reformed club.

The ECB’s help came with very stringent conditions, and an Early Day Motion submitted to the House of Commons has condemned their treatment of the club and called for an explanation.

Durham were relegated from County Championship Division One and docked 48 points for next season, making a quick return to the top division almost impossible. They were also docked points in the two cup competitions they play in.

Further measure including stripping the club’s Chester-le-Street ground of the right to hold prestigious five-day Test matches – although lesser internationals will still take place there.

They will also be forced to operate within a tighter salary cap for the next three years, and will have any prize money withheld until their debts to the ECB – only partially cleared – have been paid.

The club had little choice but to accept.

The move is unprecedented in English cricket, and the Early Day Motion called on the ECB to set out how it decided the measures.

Durham only joined First-Class cricket in 1992. For more than 100 years before that they had been a Minor County, effectively playing amateur, non-league cricket.

One condition of their elevation imposed by the ECB’s predecessors the Test and County Cricket Board was that they build an international-standard ground.

With competition to host England Test matches further increased by the addition of Cardiff and Southampton to the roster in the 21st Century, those counties hosting Tests outside of London in particular have run up huge debts. Until Chester-le-Streets demotion, nine grounds hosted seven Tests a year, with two guaranteed to Lord’s and one to The Oval, also in London.

As well as spending vast amounts to upgrade their grounds, counties had to blind bid for matches.

Durham paid £923,000 to host May’s game between England and Sri Lanka. They did not particularly want to stage the game, but it was a condition of staging the 2013 Ashes Test between England and Australia.

The motion called on the ECB to review the allocation of international matches and asked them to “commit to ensuring that cricket fans can still enjoy professional cricket at all levels, including international and Test cricket, at the Riverside Ground in Chester-le-Street.”

Chester-le-Street has been allocated 50 and 20-over internationals for the next three summers, including three at the 2019 World Cup. After that they will have to join the bidding process along with the eight remaining Test venues, and Taunton.

Mr Jones’ motion was signed by North East Labour MPs Jenny Chapman (Darlington), Catherine McKinnell (Newcastle North) and Phil Wilson (Sedgefield), as well as Berwick’s Conservative MP Anne-Marie Trevelyan.

Jim Cunningham (Lab, Coventry South), Alan Meale (Lab, Mansfield), Jim Shannon (DUP, Strangford) and Karl Turner (Lab, Hull East) also backed the motion.

Mr Jones has also written to ECB chief executive Tom Harrison about the matter.

In his letter he suggested that by stripping Chester-le-Street of Test status, the governing body “would again seem to signal a lack of interest on the part of the ECB in promoting the game, in all its formats, in the North East of England.”

He added: “The handling of this case has shown a total lack of regard for members and cricket fans in this region, and shows once again that the ECB seem to have no understanding of the challenges facing a First-Class cricket club in this part of the country.

“The course of action pursued by the ECB seems unnecessarily harsh and could have a huge impact on Durham County Cricket Club, a much cherished asset in my constituency and the wider region.”