English cricket "took a giant step towards a new Big Bash style Twenty20 tournament when counties voted overwhelmingly for change at a meeting at Lord's" on Wednesday, according to Nick Hoult of the London TELEGRAPH. The counties and Marylebone Cricket Club voted 16 in favor and only three "against backing the option to introduce a Twenty20 tournament featuring eight new teams" from '18. It "will end more than 120 years" of counties being at the center of the domestic game. The England & Wales Cricket Board put five option for change and it received backing for the choice of a new tournament in '18 that "will be run alongside the current Natwest Blast, which will feature all 18 counties as it does now" (TELEGRAPH, 9/14). SKY SPORTS reported cricket's professional game "agreed an approach" for a new eight-team, city-based T20 competition. The first-class counties "will carry out wider consultation on the proposal," while the Professional Cricketers' Association will address its full membership, all with the support of the ECB before discussion by the ECB board, which will formally consider the proposal next month.
Sky Sports News HQ reporter David Fulton said, "It has also been widely reported -- but it's unconfirmed at the moment -- that each county will receive £1.5 million ($1.9M) and there will be a £300,000 ($396,000) staging agreement for the grounds which house those city teams" (SKY SPORTS, 9/14).
