CRICKET: Essex have announced a yearly profit but say they fear they’ll be hit hard by a reduction in the number of Twenty20 games this season.

The club revealed they made a profit of £333,000 for the year ending December 31, 2011, compared to a £22,585 loss in 2010.

But the profit includes a £300,000 supplement from the ECB for maintaining their pitch to a “specific standard”, meaning it was an operating profit of £13,000.

And club treasure Keith Brown anticipates difficulty in balancing the books in light of the reduction of the number of fixtures in the short format of the game.

For the full story see Thursday's ECHO NEWSPAPER.