Yorkshire and Leicestershire add approval to EBC T20 shake-up

Yorkshire and Leicestershire have doubled the number of clubs approving plans for a new franchise-style domestic Twenty20 competition, allowing the England and Wales Cricket Board to introduce a new city-based tournament.

Plans for the constitutional change, which would see the competition consist of eight new teams, were presented at the end of last month. The chief executives and chairmen of all 18 first-class counties were informed of the ECB's proposals which aim to make the game more inviting to families.

The ECB is heavily reliant on international cricket - a market it cannot control - and seeks to address the balance.

The board's chief executive Tom Harrison believes shaking up the domestic Twenty20 structure will ensure English cricket can control its revenue streams.

Now, support from Yorkshire and Leicestershire has followed similar announcements over the past week from county clubs Sussex and Somerset.

ECB chairman Colin Graves identified a "watershed moment" last month when he triggered a postal ballot to endorse the amendment to the national governing body's articles of association.

The vote, involving the 18 counties, the MCC, Minor Counties Cricket Association and 21 recreational boards, must be concluded within 28 days.

And since the ECB's executive board dispatched the paperwork on March 28, indications already suggest the counties will give the go-ahead on a one-off basis to begin in 2020. The competition will consist of just eight teams, as opposed to all of England's affiliated professional clubs.

Now statements from Yorkshire and Leicester have followed similar announcements over the past week from Sussex and Somerset.

Yorkshire's press release read: "The board of the Yorkshire County Cricket Club has unanimously approved a change to the ECB articles of association in order to facilitate a new T20 competition in England and Wales, which will commence in the year 2020.

"The club has attended many consultative meetings with the ECB over the last 18 months, and Gordon Hollins, the chief operating officer of the ECB, was present at a members forum in the Long Room on Friday April 7, when members were able to discuss the implications of the new competition."

Headingley is expected to be among the venues most likely to host a team in 2020, but Yorkshire chairman Steve Denison stressed he is taking nothing for granted yet.

He said: "This is not just about a new city-based T20 competition. It is all to do with the ECB's 'Cricket Unleashed' strategy, which is setting out to broaden the appeal of cricket to a much wider audience.

"Cricket needs to attract boys and girls to the game through the All Stars Cricket programme, and through greater exposure on mobile devices, tablets, as well as television."

Two days ago, Somerset's statement included an understanding from their club chairman, Andy Nash, that his county "will be provided with the opportunity to stage matches in the new tournament".

Each club will receive a £1.3m annual share of the new competition's revenue and the ECB needs a vote of at least 31 in favour from the 41 member organisations consulted.

Nash said: "It would be remiss not to record the considerable unease and concern of our general committee in regard to some potential longer-term implications of this decision.

"There are clear risks but ones that on balance we consider worth taking."