London, Jan 27: England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) chairman Giles Clarke said that pirate websites streaming live cricket illegally are the biggest threat to world cricket.

The ECB last year closed down some 700 websites illegally streaming live coverage of England's Test series against India. 

"We all have to be vigilant. There are a huge number of pirate websites that stream cricket on the internet taken from television broadcasts, we and our broadcasters closed down 700 during last summer's series against India," Clarke was quoted as saying by the Daily Telegraph.

"These pirate broadcasters are the biggest danger to cricket because they take money out of the game without commercial benefit to the sport. It is an extremely complex procedure to close down websites but it can be done and has to be done," he said.