English cricket is braced for a civil war after plans for a multimillion pound Twenty20 league were leaked to the British media. The plan, drawn up by MCC chief executive Keith Bradshaw and Surrey chairman David Stewart, would see the creation of a nine-team league that excludes the remaining county sides. Dubbed the “New T20,” it will be based on the Indian Premier League, with teams participating in a 25-day competition to be held in the middle of the domestic season. Teams would be based at the nine international venues in England, with “icon players” such as Hampshire's Kevin Pietersen allocated to each side. Bradshaw and Stewart claim the competition could generate up to 85 million pounds per year ($169 million) through television rights, corporate sponsorship and match-day revenue. An unspecified amount of this money would be used to compensate the excluded sides. Although the scheme came from Bradshaw and Stewart, both members of the England and Wales Cricket Board's management committee, the news came as a surprise to ECB chairman Giles Clarke. “It is not a document I have been involved with in the slightest,” Clarke said. “Quite a lot of it is not necessarily going to receive a welcome from me. History and tradition is something only a fool breaks asunder. We need to ensure whatever is produced will be economically viable, will provide cricket people want to watch and the right format for our national side in all forms of cricket.” Bradshaw and Stewart consulted the MCC, Surrey, Hampshire and Lancashire in drawing up their proposals. The response from the excluded counties was hostile. “Our initial reaction is that we would be completely against this,” said Tom Sears, chief executive of Derbyshire. “We had been told by the ECB that the IPL franchise model was completely off the agenda and that they are looking at an EPL (English Premier League) with 18 first-class teams included. Then I hear that two of the ECB management board have signed this document, which is really worrying. “It would completely change the landscape. We would see the rich getting richer and the have-nots fall further behind. The only way it could work for a smaller county like Derbyshire is if the sum we received was astronomical. If it is not, then we would never consider it.” Worcerstershire chief executive Mark Newton was similarly shocked. “This is a huge surprise,” he said. “We have been with these counties twice in the last week, talking about the future of Twenty20. I can't believe people would sit there and not say anything about this. I don't enjoy situations where you have to question people's integrity and, unfortunately, that is the situation we are in here. “There was a chief executive's meeting on Wednesday and all 18 counties were generally in agreement about the way forward for Twenty20 cricket. There was an agreement that any competition would be based on the 18 counties.” Glamorgan chairman Paul Russell foresaw trouble. “I believe this is wrong,” he said. “It is a divisive, bootleg proposal which has been generated from self-interest. I don't think these forays into flights of fantasy and fairy-tale economics do anybody any good.” The reaction put Bradshaw on the defensive. “We are not saying this document is the answer,” he said. “This is the start of a discussion, but we believe there is enough substance in the paper. The figures are not plucked out of the air and they would not be in the document unless they were viable and audit-able.” The proposals will be formally discussed by the ECB next week. - AP __
