After a long wait of over three months, the men’s domestic season will commence with a first-class competition on August 1st.
The competition will be named after the Former England fast bowler and commentator, who died last December and will be called the Bob Willis Trophy.
A majority of county chairmen voted yesterday to play some form of a red ball tournament this summer, in addition to the Twenty20 Blast competition.
The new fixture list will be confirmed in the coming days, with the season running until October for the first time.
There will be a first-class competition played in three regional groups, with the two best placed teams meeting in the final which will be played at Lords.
The tournament will replace the County Championship, which will not be played this year.
The counties believe that it would be grossly unfair to have promotion and relegation and an official championship winner in a truncated season.
The big money earning T20 Blast, will begin on August 27th, and will be played in the same three regional groups.
The group winners and best placed runners up, will then advance to Finals Day.
Counties are also making a very valid case that cricket is uniquely suited to allowing some crowds in and could act as a test case for fans being reintroduced back to watching live sport again.
It is also hoped that there could be some limited crowds permitted for both first-class matches and the T20 Blast campaign.
There is also the added prospect of Counties having plans to improve their live streaming of games to enable fans who cannot attend to watch matches online.