As he walks around the boundary edge of Lord’s in the late-September drizzle Richard Thompson stops to point out the famous slope that has flummoxed many a batsman at the ground known affectionately as the home of cricket.

“You really get a sense of the scale of the slope at this level,” said the chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).

The treacherous Lord’s slope, which runs north to south with a drop of 2.5 metres, divides opinion among batters and bowlers — much like Thompson’s controversial plans to shore up the finances of English cricket.

Balancing the books has been a challenge ever since cricket was professionalised in 1962.

Many county teams are struggling to make money, despite receiving £120 million a