Twenty20 Ashes clash gets boards' approval

Michael Vaughan: 'I think it's a great competition as long as it doesn't cram into the already hectic schedule' © Getty Images Enlarge

England and Australia's boards have provisionally agreed to play a Twenty20-style international during next summer's Ashes series. It is believed that the one-off match had been prompted by the huge popularity of the format in its first season last year, when more than 250,000 spectators thronged the county grounds.

A spokesman for Cricket Australia confirmed to Melbourne's Age newspaper that it had told the ECB that it was willing to play the match. He said: "Twenty20 cricket has been a success around the world and, as we don't have hands-on experience of the product, we are interested to learn more about it and the implications it might have for the international game."

Michael Vaughan, England's captain, welcomed the news, but expressed slight reservations about fitting the game into the itinerary. "I think it's a great competition as long as it doesn't cram into the already hectic schedule," he said. "We'll have to make way for that."

But not everyone was enthusiastic. Dean Jones, the former Australian batsman, told the Age: "It's cheapening one-day cricket a little bit for me. The bash-artists are the only ones who get a game. But it's an interesting concept."

Writing in The Independent, Angus Fraser said that NatWest were likely to sponsor the event as part of celebrations to mark 25 years of their involvement in cricket. If the experiment takes off, future tours could involve several such matches, forcing the International Cricket Council to think on the lines of a global competition.

Fraser suggested that a Twenty20 competition might eventually replace the ICC Champions Trophy, which is perceived as a mini World Cup. To date, only England and South Africa have introduced the format at domestic level, though the success of the endeavour in both countries might force many other cash-strapped boards to follow suit.