Exclusive by Martin Gough

Leicestershire won the Twenty20 Cup in 2004

Leicestershire are set to play in the inaugural International 20/20 Club Championship, despite losing in the semi-finals of the Twenty20 Cup.

The tournament is set to take place at their home ground Grace Road in September after being approved by the England and Wales Cricket Board.

BBC Sport understands one other county will compete, plus a South African side, World and India/Pakistan teams.

The Professional Cricketers Association will put out a sixth 'Masters' side.

The tournament will be spread over three days.

An ECB spokesman said: "It's not an official ECB competition but we have no objection at all to it going ahead."

He played down fears that the Twenty20 domestic competition could be devalued by other tournaments.

"We are confident that Twenty20 is strong enough to cope whatever other competitions are going on."

It's something that's just been dropped on the players HD Ackerman Leicestershire captain

Investors in Cricket, the consortium that runs Leicestershire, will confirm final details early next week.

And IIC expects to take the concept to Dubai and India next year.

The England and Wales Cricket Board owns the rights to the branding "Twenty20" but the organisers will be able to sidestep this with a minor tweak to the title.

The Foxes upset Surrey to win the Twenty20 Cup in 2004 but fell to eventual champions Somerset on Saturday.

Afterwards, Leicestershire captain HD Ackerman said: "It's something that's just been dropped on the players. We thought it was up in the air but we believe it is now going ahead.