Latest news straight to your inbox Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

Warwickshire will definitely play in this season’s Twenty20 tournament as the "Birmingham Bears" after the city council confirmed it has no intention of withdrawing its request for them to do so.

The county has annoyed many of its supporters by acceding to the council’s "request" - which was actually more akin to an offer they could not refuse after the council have loaned the cricket club £20million to rebuild the Pavilion End at Edgbaston.

It will be the first time that any of the English first-class counties have jettisoned their own historic name and taken up a different identity in one of the senior tournaments.

Even though the change applies only in T20 - and both club and council have made clear that it will only ever do so - it will jar among many cricket-lovers to see Warwickshire’s cricketers perform under another name.

Clearly, justifiably most aggrieved of all are those of the club’s fans who live beyond the Second City so have no affiliation at all with the new name.

But "Birmingham Bears" it will be - for the 2014 season at least, after which the success or otherwise of the change (designed to bring a new audience into Edgbaston for the short-format) will be evaluated.

"The new name is not a council decision - it is a joint decision between the council and the club," said Cllr Ian Ward.

"There is a launch-date set and the kit is on the way and I know the club is all geared up to start really marketing the Birmingham Bears games and Friday nights at Edgbaston really special occasions.

"It is all designed to drive up attendances at Twenty20 games and generate interest. Then we will sit down at the end of the season and see whether it has worked.

"We always knew that the move would upset traditionalists among the fans.

"But I must admit I was a little surprised that there were objections from the people who like to watch their traditional four-day county cricket and five-day Test cricket.

"This change was only ever intended to apply to Twenty20 and we don’t see it as ever applying anywhere else. T20 is the innovative form of cricket and, over the years, plenty of teams had added bits and pieces on to their names.

"With the the ECB’s new format this season we want to bring in a new audience; to get new cricket fans into Edgbaston firstly for Twenty20 and then, who know, maybe other formats too.

"Nobody envisages the name-change applying to any Warwickshire teams in the longer versions of the game."

Opponents of the move were quick to react this evening when I tweeted the news that there was no hope of a U-turn.

"Disgrace," said Alan Hipkiss, "the club will be laughed at round the country," while Jon Collett added "shame on them - hope the members raise this at the agm."