New Pounds 50m EPL set to include overseas sides

Lord's yesterday announced a new 50m Twenty20 competition, the English Premier League, which will be played in June from 2010. The two-division competition, which will incorporate promotion and relegation, will include two overseas teams as well as all 18 first- class counties.

It is understood that the England and Wales Cricket Board expects to generate more than 50m for the inaugural season, and there will be a salary cap, expected to be in excess of 1.5m per team.

The identities of the overseas sides are as yet unknown. The West Indies are scheduled to tour here in July 2010 for a four-test series, but Bangladesh are the visitors in May, and they will play a two-Test rubber.

There is a possibility that the overseas teams might comprise a collection of stars from around the world, almost certainly including players drawn from India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, to take advantage of the huge televisual audience in Asia and thus boost broadcast and sponsorship interest.

There had been fears of Twenty20 usurping first-class cricket in status and importance but the ECB insisted that the County Championship, the nursery for Test cricketers, would remain unaffected in its present two-division format and would continue to be played over four days.

The divisions for the new competition will be decided on next season's Twenty20 Cup, with the eight quarter-finalists and the ninth best team forming the top division. The tenth team in each division will be an overseas team.

First division teams will be permitted to field three or four overseas players - a decision has yet to be reached - with second division teams being allowed two or three players from abroad.

It is believed that there are plans for the EPL to culminate in either a "Finals day" or a "Finals weekend".

The present Twenty20 Cup will continue, and it is expected to be based pretty much on the original, regionalised format, but it will be played largely on Friday evenings, under floodlights, from July to September. This means there is no room in the fixture schedule for the Pro40 league, which will end next year.

Mike Soper, the former ECB vice-chairman, who revealed earlier this week that he had submitted a proposal for a Twenty20 tournament which would involve the 18 counties, welcomed the announcement. "I want it to work. I just want cricket to be successful.

"I would like to see the new competition on terrestrial television. Tests are so difficult to broadcast because they occupy so many hours, but a three-hour match is always easier for broadcasters to incorporate in their schedules."

The 20-team format was decided on by the ECB executive board at Lord's on Tuesday. There were other items on the agenda, but it is understood that the debate between this scheme and the nine-team franchise proposed by Lancashire, Surrey, Hampshire and MCC chief executive Keith Bradshaw, occupied much of the eight-hour meeting.

That plan proposed a competition involving only nine franchises, mirroring many of the features of the Indian Premier League, and stirred discontent among those counties who feared they might not be involved.

"The structure [of the new competition] takes advantage of elements of the David Stewart and Keith Bradshaw funding proposals," an ECB statement read.

Stewart, the Surrey chairman, said: "These are extremely exciting and satisfying proposals for the future of domestic cricket in England and Wales . I am delighted to support them.

"They incorporate some excellent ideas and Keith Bradshaw and I were delighted to be able to submit our ideas as part of the decision-making process."

ECB chairman Giles Clarke said: "I am delighted that the board unanimously supported these creative proposals and I would like to congratulate everyone for their hard work.

"We have already received enormous broadcast and sponsor interest from around the world."

County cricket's new structure

*The EPL will have two divisions of 10 teams featuring the 18 counties plus two overseas teams.

*The Pro40 will be scrapped after 2009, to be replaced by a revamped version of the current Twenty20 Cup.

*The 2010 season will include a 50-over competition and 16 County Championship matches in a two-division structure.

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