EPL Plans Bring Whiff of Betrayal

Paul Russel is chairman of Glamorgan, who now boast a 'Category A' ground - namely one that hosts international cricket and that is designed to be one of the grounds for the notional nine-team English version of the Indian Premier League, which is the brainchild of David Stewart, the chairman of Surrey, and Keith Bradshaw, the chief executive of the MCC.

'I believe this is wrong', Russell said. 'It is a divisive, bootleg proposal, which has been generated from self-interest. I don't think these forays into flights of fancy and fairytale economics do anybody any good.' If that's how a potential beneficiary feels, it is not hard to understand the fury of those counties who are marooned on the sidelines by this scheme.

There could be some stormy meetings at the headquarters of the England and Wales Cricket Board this week. On Tuesday their executive meets; on Wednesday the county chairmen will be there. There is a whiff of betrayal in the air - especially in the shires - no matter how urbanely this urban plan is presented. The chief executives of the counties met last week and there was not a whisper of the proposals, supported by Hampshire and Lancashire.

Nor was Giles Clarke, the chairman of the ECB, in the sweetest of moods when he learnt of the leaked proposals. Clarke was deemed to have had a good Dubai, with Zimbabwe negotiated out of the World Twenty20 championship next summer and Sri Lanka enrolled as Zimbabwe's replacements as tourists at the start of the 2009 season, but I doubt whether he has relished the impression of sub-plots being hatched in his own backyard, without his knowledge. Clarke has always expressed the personal view that any new Twenty20 format should involve all 18 counties.

Bradshaw and Stewart issued a statement yesterday: 'We make no apologies for preparing this board discussion paper as we strongly believe that the idea of an English Twenty20 tournament, taking the best of the Indian Premier League and combining it with the strengths of the English game, is worthy of considerable debate and discussion.

'We are naturally disappointed that the paper has leaked before the ECB Board can discuss it on 15 July. It was the intention of the paper to stimulate discussion and if the idea is welcomed by the board to engage all the counties in a consultative process... We are aware of significant interest from potential financial backers and are confident that a tournament, along the lines we set out in the paper, can generate considerable revenues for all 18 counties and the grassroots of the game.'

I doubt whether that statement will appease the counties on the outside. They will draw these sorts of conclusions: the dash for cash becomes ever more blatant; the progression towards a county structure of haves and have-nots hastens, with the possession of an international ground the passport to riches. There is money to be made so the creation of nine second-tier counties does not matter. Nor is it a concern that swathes of the countryside would be denied access to this new tournament.

For the moment, the economics of all this remain a mystery. But here's a thought. To succeed the tournament would require huge television revenue. This now stems from India. So there must be key Indians playing - such as Mahendra Dhoni. He earns £750,000 in six weeks from the IPL. It could be quite expensive to lure him to England.