ECB To Stick With Single Twenty20 Tournament

The England and Wales Cricket Board has confirmed that plans for a rival series to the Indian Premier League have been scrapped with the governing body opting for one enhanced Twenty20 competition in next season’s cricket calendar as opposed to two.

The ECB was considering having a P20 championship, to include foreign stars, as well as the current Twenty20 Cup but decided against it after meeting county chiefs.

The 2010 schedule will now include the LV County Championship, Friends Provident Trophy and Twenty20 Cup.

‘These were extremely constructive talks and the consensus of opinion was clearly for three competitions, with a desire to preserve the primacy of Test cricket and the LV County Championship,’ said ECB chief executive David Collier.

Any extra T20 competition would have caused scheduling problems for the ECB, while attracting sponsors and broadcasters might have proved difficult in the current economic climate.

The Twenty20 World Cup was staged in England this year and caused England’s first Test of the series against West Indies to start early on 7th May.

That is believed to have proved less than ideal and, with a similar scenario expected as England play two Test series each summer, the P20 has been scrapped.

The new look Twenty20 Cup is now expected to be played throughout the whole season and predominantly on Thursdays, Fridays and at weekends.

Details of how many overseas players permitted per county are yet to be announced by the ECB.

The Friends Provident Trophy one-day tournament is set to be put back a few weeks – starting in June – and will include quarter-final and semi-final stages, while the Championship is set to remain a 16-match campaign.