Cricket bosses vote for city teams to bring financial stability

THE cricket counties have voted in favour of bringing in a new T20 tournament made up of eight city-based teams.

Warwickshire, which led the way years ago by adopting a city name for its one-day side Birmingham Bears, was one of 15 counties to vote in favour of the change.

Counties will now consult their membership before a final vote by the ECB board next month. If approved, the new tournament is expected to begin in 2018 and would run alongside the existing county-based T20 Blast competition.

The finals of the T20 Blast have been held in front of a capacity crowd at Edgbaston Stadium.

Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, London, Manchester, Nottingham and Southampton have been suggested as likely host cities of the new teams.

The agreed approach is built on the game-wide strategy, Cricket Unleashed, and has been developed to broaden cricket’s appeal, provide greater financial stability for all 18 first class counties.

“We’ve all been looking at how we can use domestic T20 for an even bigger purpose, especially getting more young people to play,” said ECB chairman Colin Graves. 

“The need to grow interest and participation in the game we love is at the core of our thinking and this is a rigorous process.

“The next steps for us all, as a game, will be to extend the discussions and get valuable input from players, members and other key voices across the game.”