Cricket: ECB to address new compensation deals for counties over loss of players to T20 franchises

The England & Wales Cricket Board will discuss new compensation deals for counties that lose players to the Indian Premier League in the wake of growing anger over the current system.

The counties learned recently that the ECB receives a fee of 10 percent of each player’s salary from the IPL but has not been passing the sums on to the clubs. The ECB argues the payments are reinvested in the game evenly and the counties also receive a rebate on the players’ salary to compensate him not being available for championship cricket.

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But Telegraph Sport understands the ECB wrote to the counties on Tuesday to say it will be reviewing the current deals. The 18 county chief executives and the MCC are due to meet the ECB on Thursday to discuss the new Twenty20 competition. The IPL compensation payments have been added to the agenda under pressure from counties who want to know where the money has been spent and why they did not receive it. The ECB has explained that it was discussed and minuted in meetings in the past.

The ECB will also look into a proposal for the return of a 50-over FA Cup style knockout competition that has been proposed by a working party chaired by Wasim Khan, the Leicestershire chief executive.

It would be a rebirth for the old Gillette Cup/ NatWest Trophy/C&G Trophy that was knockout until 2006 when it was reorganised into a league. The 50-over competition has been in decline for years in county cricket and it was announced last year that the traditional Lord’s final will be shifted to Trent Bridge from 2020.

It will be further sidelined when the new Twenty20 tournament is launched that summer so revamping it is seen as a way of giving it a new lease of life.

The counties will also further discuss the conference system proposed by Yorkshire for the County Championship that would replace two divisions with three groups, giving each team a chance of winning the title at the start of the season. Counties feel there is too much pressure on coaches to avoid relegation which is promoting short-term decisions and the signing of Kolpak players.