HAMPSHIRE chairman Rod Bransgrove believes English cricket's new city-based T20 league can have a similar impact to the Big Bash.

Bransgrove was one of 18 first-class county chairmen who, together with the MCC, voted 16-3 in favour of a new T20 league that could start as soon as 2018.

He hopes it will be as big a boost to English cricket as the Big Bash has been to the game in Australia.

He said: "I don't understand anyone who voted against but I do remember eight counties voted against playing Twenty20 14 years ago.

"If two people had voted against T20 in 2002 it wouldn't have happened. This is an absolute no-brainer, the cricket landscape has changed dramatically in the last ten years.

"This is something I first submitted in 2007 so I've waited eight or nine years for this. It's one of my major ambitions along with getting an Ashes Test.

"It's a different regime [at the ECB] now and my focus is on helping the management to establish a proper T20 tournament with eight teams based at the big grounds."

Bransgrove believes the new T20 tournament can learn a lot from the BBL, which began five years ago.

"The Big Bash is as good as it gets, it's got everything right," said Bransgrove.

"It has broadcast rights for terrestrial television and cricket participation in Australia has gone up significantly in the last five years.

"Here only one in 50 children say cricket is their favourite sport. They put basketball and WWF as their favourite sports above cricket.

"So we need to make this tournament more attractive to young families and make them feel safe in that environment.

"It needs to be fresh and address the 9.4m people in the UK who say they like cricket [but don't currently participate in any way].

"That may not please the 60,000 county members, but that figure represents a very small percentage of cricket lovers.

"And the £1.3m minimum that all counties will receive will help preserve four-day cricket."

The next step will be for the England and Wales Cricket Board to consider the proposal at its board meeting on October 18.

Meanwhile, Sussex, are among the minority yet to be convinced - and in a statement released this morning, the club spelled out its reasons.

It read: "We recognise the current financial risks to counties, including over-dependence on international income, and the opportunities to develop interest in the game, including the changing media landscape.

"The board is open to considering change in the schedule, but our strong preference is that domestic tournaments should feature all 18 first-class counties."