ECB meets to discuss Twenty20's future

The ECB will meet today to discuss proposals for an English version of the IPL as it considers broadcast tenders for the 2010 season.

A number of proposals have been floated in the last fortnight, but the one which is based on three seven-team regional leagues appears to be the one with the broadest support.

The idea of ditching the existing county structure altogether seems to have been sidelined, despite the backing of some senior county chairmen. Last week Giles Clarke, the ECB chairman, said that city-based teams were not something that would work in England.

"I always thought city cricket was the future," Lancashire's Jim Cumbes told The Times. "It's more identifiable, it's new and it gives an opportunity in the future for there to be other city franchises."

Clarke, who is already risking a showdown with leading players over his unequivocal stance on their participation in the IPL, is also at odds with some of the chairman. One is quoted in today's Guardian as saying: "We yearned for strong leadership for years and now Giles has come along and we are terrified."

The need for a review of the existing Twenty20 structure, to capitalise on the success of the format without necessarily aping the IPL, has, in turn, led to discussions about the future of the County Championship, and that has not gone down well in all quarters either.

There have been suggestions of three-day Championship matches, which Leicestershire's chief executive David Smith rejected outright. "The old system was workable on uncovered pitches," Smith told the Telegraph, "but as soon as the pitches were covered, the cricket was awful to watch. To put it simply, three-day cricket won't produce Test players."