Previous visits included the Sydney Olympics and Kuala Lumpur, venue of the last Commonwealth Games The latest trip has raised concerns at Westminster. Richard Caborn, the sports minister, is understood to be furious that large sums are being spent on such trips, especially after financial difficulties at Manchester 2002 meant the project had to be bolstered by a £105m funding package from the Government, Sport England and Manchester city council just after the general election.”Everyone wants the games to be a great success. That is essential for Manchester and it is essential for Britain,” said a Whitehall source. “But it was made clear to Manchester when the funding package was agreed that there was no endless pot of gold.

The sports minister is concerned that money is spent properly He was furious about this trip. It is particularly rich that so many of them were on this trip after they had been given extra cash to meet the costs of the games.”Prior to the additional funding, Manchester 2002 had already received £140m in government support.Mr Caborn intends to take the matter up with Howard Bernstein, the chief executive of Manchester City Council.Manchester 2002 and the city council were yesterday unrepentant about the trip.A spokesperson for the council said: “Crucial personnel went to Edmonton to examine the delivery of a top-class sports event. We needed to examine factors such as building safety, crowd control and other vital ingredients to delivering a world-class event. It is absolutely essential that we see how things roll out in practice.”The investment had been “relatively small” and “valuable lessons were learned”. It was not a holiday, but a working trip with most of the time spent in meetings.Organisers hope the games will attract future international sporting events, assist in the regeneration of east Manchester, and create jobs..

Yorkshire took another assured step towards their first County Championship title since 1968 by completing the formality of bowling out Leicestershire at Grace Road. Yorkshire took another assured step towards their first County Championship title since 1968 by completing the formality of bowling out Leicestershire at Grace Road.
They have won the compet-ition 30 times – 12 more than their nearest rivals, the current holders Surrey – and with a wealth of talent they have promised to deliver for several seasons before faltering.The hosts resumed on 245 for 7, 288 runs adrift, and after skipper Vince Wells fell for 133 they succumbed on 370, Phil DeFreitas battling away for 97.Essex seem doomed to relegation after the game against fellow strugglers Glamorgan at Cardiff was rained off without any play being possible.Two others hovering above the drop zone drew at Old Trafford. Lancashire declared on 243 for 7 to set Northamptonshire 349 to win, captain John Crawley adding 68 to his first-innings 280 and Joe Scu-deri making 61 not out. The visitors managed 13 for 1.Sussex took advantage of Middlesex’s week off and increased their lead at the top of Division Two by beating Derbyshire at Derby. The latter’s batting has been poor and they were skittled out for 117 with the veteran seamer Mark Robinson grabbing 5 for 38.By polishing off Sussex for 230 they gave themselves a target of 246. One bright pros-pect, Luke Sutton, who carried his bat for 140 in the first innings, almost repeated the feat as he was last man out for 54.Worcestershire called a halt on 233 for 2 against Warwick-shire at Edgbaston, Phil Weston making an unbeaten 102 of 230 balls with 14 fours and a six and Vikram Solanki 56.