English cricket chiefs will press ahead with plans for a city-based Twenty20 competition at today’s ECB board meeting.
Chairman Colin Graves and chief executive Tom Harrison are determined to launch a city-based tournament in the style of Australia’s Big Bash, though the start date remains uncertain.
The original plan was to kick the tournament off in the summer of 2018, although Standard Sport understands it might now be delayed until 2020.
The outline proposal was for an eight-team competition at the major cricket grounds, played in the height of summer and attracting the world’s best players, though nothing is yet set in stone.
It is unclear exactly what would happen to the NatWest Blast, the current domestic T20 tournament, which features all 18 first-class counties. Launching in 2020 would present an intriguing scenario regarding television rights. ECB’s deal with Sky Sports, worth about £280millon, expires in 2019. BT Sport are now serious players in the cricket market, having secured rights to next winter’s Ashes series, and are thought to have a strong interest in English domestic cricket.
If the new tournament proceeds — and Notts all-rounder Samit Patel today said the concept was a “no-brainer” — counties could receive about £1.5m each from the £35m in television revenue. Only three counties — Surrey, Sussex and Kent — voted against the tournament when it was proposed last month.
