Warwicks defend name change to Birmingham for T20 Blast

Warwickshire have defended their decision to re-brand the county as the Birmingham Bears for next season’s Twenty20 competition, itself spruced up and re-named the NatWest Twenty20 Blast.

The club have been criticised for discarding its county-wide association for the shortest form of the game – now to be played largely on Friday nights and spread over the season rather than concentrated in the middle – with some members claiming they were alienated by the focus on the city.

But Colin Povey, the county’s chief executive, believes the switch – which has the blessing of the England and Wales Cricket Board – is an important step in attracting a wider audience, and stressed the Championship and 50-over sides will remain Warwickshire. Birmingham City Council, which has funded much of the re-development of Edgbaston, was a prime mover in pushing for the change.

“We don’t want to alienate those fans,” said Povey of any disgruntled members. “We know the Twenty20 format and the time of the games means it is most likely that very local people come to those fixtures. We have to be realistic in this day and age. If your primary funding partner says ‘would you like to think about this, we think it might be a good idea’, we would be stupid and naïve if we ignored that.

“We know that 70-75 per cent of people who attend T20 matches at Edgbaston live in a B postcode. We want to try and give those members of the local Asian communities that enjoy Edgbaston with India v Pakistan and Champions Trophy fixtures a good enough excuse to come down and associate themselves more closely with their local team.”

The Twenty20, split into north and south groups, will run from mid-May to the end of July and includes Middlesex playing back-to-back games against Essex and Surrey on one day at Lord’s.

The season will also feature a new 50-over competition, the Royal London One-Day Cup, in two divisions followed by the quarter-finals. The County Championship season opens on 6 April.