ECB to resist Twenty20 revamp

Clarke: Cautious

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The England and Wales Cricket Board look likely to shun proposals to implement a new Twenty20 tournament into domestic cricket based on the Indian Premier League.

Plans drafted by MCC secretary Keith Bradshaw and Surrey chairman David Stewart had outlined a radical new format to the existing county structure and had already been discussed with officials at Hampshire and Lancashire.

They propose a new 57-match Twenty20 tournament lasting 25 days, with nine teams based at the main Test and one-day international grounds in the country, which would be backed by city investors.

Each team would feature a mixture of homegrown and overseas players and initial projections predicted a first-year profit of £50million, with the potential thereafter to generate approximately £85million per annum.

Governed by a new Twenty20 Limited company rather than the ECB, the tournament would replace the existing 40-over competition in the county structure.

However, ECB chairman Giles Clarke has rapidly moved to distance himself from the plans.

"There have been a lot of ideas pushed around, most of debatable economic validity," he told Test Match Special.

"Quite a lot of it is probably not going to find favour with me; there may be elements of it to take into consideration.

"I am firmly in favour of 18 counties playing matches for their home crowds. I don't see why they should be fearful for their county futures.

"The board agreed at their last meeting on an 18-county structure. We're very firm that the 18-county structure taking the game around the country is really important for cricket in England and Wales.

"History and tradition is something only a fool breaks asunder. We need to ensure whatever is produced will be economically viable, will provide cricket people want to watch and the right format for our national side in all forms of cricket."

The new proposal are set to be presented at the ECB Board meeting on Tuesday which will be attended by all 18 counties and is the first serious attempt to rival the highly-successful IPL which, after launching this year, plans to have two tournaments a year from 2011.