Cricket-Glamorgan chief Morris wants Wales team in T20 competition

Jan 24 (Reuters) - Former England batsman and current Glamorgan chief executive Hugh Morris has pitched for the inclusion of a Wales-based team in the England and Wales Cricket Board's (ECB) proposed new Twenty20 cricket competition. Plans to introduce an eight-team, city-based Twenty20 tournament have been pushed back until at least 2020, but Glamorgan told the BBC that having a team based in Cardiff would help boost the sport's profile in the country. "The growth and development of the game in Wales could be driven by this new competition," the former test batsman said. "There are one or two hurdles, but I firmly believe it's the way to go." "We're going to fight really hard. We are the 'Wales' in the 'England and Wales Cricket Board'. We have over three million people in the country and we feel there are audiences not engaged with cricket we can entice into the game." The proposal to add a city-based tournament to the current T20 Blast which involves county teams has not gone down well in some quarters, with some of the county teams opposing the idea. Morris was optimistic the issues could be swiftly resolved. "Good progress has been made but by the early part of the summer, some critical decisions have to be made by the 18 first-class counties," he said. "I really hope they embrace the idea of city-based teams, with people being able to see the best players in the world in our domestic programme." (Reporting by Simon Jennings in Bengaluru; Editing by Amlan Chakraborty)