Trent Bridge has been selected as a host venue for one of eight newly-created teams to compete in the ECB’s answer to the Indian Premier League and Australia’s Big Bash. But what does that actually mean? 

  • Trent Bridge will host one of eight brand new teams competing in a Twenty20 tournament comprising of 36 games in 38 days with four home group games per team
  • All games will be televised with fixtures split between Sky Sports and the BBC
  • County cricketers will be drafted to the highest bidding teams for the duration of the competition and will not be tied to their ‘home venue’ team
  • The Vitality T20 Blast competition will not overlap the new competition and all 18 counties will continue to play Twenty20 cricket

What’s the thinking behind this new competition?

ECB Chief Executive Tom Harrison hopes that the new competition will ‘future-proof’ cricket in England and Wales by making it accessible to new fans in a path forged by the Indian Premier League and Australia’s Big Bash. 

"I don't think it's so much a gamble,” he said.

“It's about asking, what do we want our game to look like?

"We know that by doing things differently, by building new teams, we can be relevant to a whole new audience and bring this very diverse, multicultural Britain in to our stadiums in a way perhaps we haven't been successful in doing."

So will the Nottinghamshire players represent this new team at Trent Bridge?

All players will be up for grabs in the auction so the Trent Bridge team management will need to decide whether to bid for Alex Hales, Riki Wessels, Samit Patel and Luke Fletcher or chase leading players from elsewhere. Conversely, other teams may target leading Outlaws players so county allegiances will be suspended for the duration of the competition.

What about overseas players?

Overseas players will also enter the auction with up to three eligible for each team.

Will county cricket continue as we know it?

Yes, the Specsavers County Championship, Vitality T20 Blast and the Royal London One-Day Cup will continue with all 18 first class counties taking part.

Will the new competition be televised?

Yes, every game in the new competition will be televised with 10 matches live on the BBC, returning cricket to free-to-air channels for the first time since the 2005 Ashes series was broadcast on Channel 4. Sky Sports will broadcast those matches not shown on the BBC.

When does this thing start?

The planning will start almost immediately with structures established ahead of the first player auction and competition launch in the summer of 2020.

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