Big hitters propose £50m English Twenty20 tournament

• Nine franchises to be recommended • IPL-style auction suggested for overseas players

Four of the major players in county cricket are proposing a new £50m
Twenty20 tournament based on the Indian Premier League to be held in England from 2010.

The MCC, Lancashire, Hampshire and Surrey are proposing a 57-match tournament spanning 25 days with nine franchises competing. All the franchises would be based at the Category A grounds qualified to stage Tests and one-day internationals, and would enter into a bidding process for players similar to that seen before this year's inaugural IPL.

Each squad would have a proposed salary cap of £1.5m and must include 12 homegrown players, with three of those under 23 years of age, while there would be an auction for overseas players.

Initial projections predict profits of £50m in the first year, with the competition being run by a new Twenty20 Limited company rather than the England and Wales Cricket Board. The profits and revenue would be shared between the ECB, which would distribute it to the counties and grassroots cricket, and overseas boards, which would provide some of the star players.

The proposals are expected to be presented to the ECB at next week's board meeting and include suggestions for a separate Friday night Twenty20 competition and a limited overs competition - probably 50-overs - to be run at the weekends.

This is the first serious attempt to rival the highly successful IPL, which plans to have two tournaments each year from 2011. Under these plans, the county championship would remain intact although it remains unclear how it could fit in an extra one-day competition without any impact on the current schedule.