A NEW one-day format is to be tried out in county cricket this summer, with each side splitting a 40-over allocation into two chunks of 20, the ECB confirmed today in announcing the draw for the 2nd XI knockout competition.

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Just as significant will be a trial of pink cricket balls and white clothing. The ECB said: "This is in order to understand more about the performance of pink balls in our local conditions, along with how they combine with white clothing."

A team's innings is to be continued with no more than the normal 10 wickets in hand, the second phase picking up from the point at which the first phase ended. The ECB said there would 20 overs of powerplays, 10 of those in the first 10 overs. The other 10 powerplays would be split into two blocks of five, one taken at the fielding team’s discretion, the other at the batting team’s discretion.

Special provision has been made in the playing conditions for the reallocation of overs in interrupted matches to take account of the two-phase nature of each innings.

2nd XI 40-over Competition

Lancashire v Yorkshire or Durham, Derbyshire v Nottinghamshire, Worcestershire v Warwickshire, Glamorgan v Somnerset or Gloucestershire, Northamptonshire v Leicestershire, Surrey v Middlesex, Essex v Kent, Sussex v Hampshire.