New T20 event on the way

English cricket’s new citybased Twenty20 tournament is a giant stride closer after counties supplied the mandate necessary to “trigger” a postal vote for constitutional change.

The England and Wales Cricket Board executive is expected to agree at a Lord’s meeting today to dispatch the referendum in which the 41 representatives of first-class counties, MCC and recreational boards will be invited to sanction an amendment to the governing body’s existing rules in order to accommodate a tournament including just eight teams from 2020 onwards.

ECB chief executive Tom Harrison confirmed, after his presentation on the latest plans for the competition which will borrow from the formats of the Indian Premier League and Australia’s Big Bash, that the 18 counties and MCC have all signed “media rights deeds”.

That assent, allowing ECB to add the new tournament to a portfolio offered to prospective media outlets this summer, is a significant indicator that - following a 28-day period in which responses to the postal vote must be received - it will be full steam ahead to a brave new world for cricket in this country.

The counties’ eventual acquiescence will be smoothed by an ECB commitment to repay a £1.3millon-a-year share of tournament revenue to each of them - though the number of matches likely to be broadcast free-to-air will remain a bone of contention with some.