The ECB is facing another row with some of the top counties after telling them that they will not be permitted to run women’s teams from next season.

Under a proposal presented last week by Clare Connor, the ECB managing director of women’s cricket, the 35-team County Championship will be replaced by eight regional teams in an effort to align the men and women’s sides that will compete in the new 100-ball competition, which starts in 2020.

Counties will be permitted to run age-group programmes to feed into the regional teams but will not be allowed to compete at any level above under-17. A number of the bigger counties who have invested heavily in women’s cricket, such as Lancashire and Surrey, are strongly opposed to