Modi revealed on Twitter he wanted a September Champions League

English counties are set to miss out on the 2010 Champions League Twenty20 after it was announced the event will be staged between 10 and 26 September.

Those dates clash with the end of the English domestic season, prompting the English and Wales Cricket Board to call for a rethink on the event's timing.

In those 16 days, there are two County Championship rounds, and the semis and final of the new ECB 40 League.

England also play a one-day series against Pakistan from 10-22 September.

Lalit Modi, who is chairman of the Champions League and commissioner of the Indian Premier League (IPL) as well as vice-president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), announced the date change on his Twitter feed.

"Dates are finalised as Sep 10 to Sep 26 this year," he wrote.

Last year the inaugural Champions League competition started on 8 October, featuring English counties Somerset and Sussex as well as teams from India, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, West Indies and Sri Lanka.

However, the September schedule for this year effectively means the two English counties who qualify from the domestic Twenty20 Cup will be unable to take part.

606: DEBATE They aren't going to reschedule all the county fixtures so two teams can go and play in this tournament - either Modi moves it or the English teams won't play in it Choppingwood

"ECB has expressed serious concern to the Board of Control for Cricket in India, Cricket Australia and Cricket South Africa concerning this decision and the matter will be discussed with the respective chairmen and presidents who are currently meeting in Dubai," the ECB statement read.

"ECB believes that it would be a great shame for the Champions League tournament to be deprived of teams and players by this change of date in bringing forward the respective events by a week and has called on BCCI to review all alternatives."

Somerset chief executive Richard Gould told cricinfo: "I think it's a surprising commercial move because for this competition to have truly global reach it's going to have to include all the major countries.

"Mr Modi will do pretty much what he wants, when he wants, anyway and if he sees no value in English cricket then that's a commercial decision that in the long run he'll have to stand by."

Somerset, who reached the last eight of the Champions league last year, are investing heavily in their Twenty20 campaign for the 2010 season.

West Indian Kieron Pollard and Australia's Cameron White, both big hitters, come into their squad - but Gould insists that there is no chance of them choosing Champions League over domestic cricket if they were to repeat last year's success.

"Those players have been brought in to help us with our own domestic tournament and if all goes well to allow us to compete in the Champions League, but I must say that we believe that ECB domestic commitments take priority without argument," he said.

"You've got four teams that will be involved with the ECB 40-over semi-finals and you always have half a dozen sides in the promotion, relegation or Championship deciders.

"Even if a team qualified for the Champions League that wasn't in the running for other honours it would not be acceptable for them to go because that would leave them fielding weaker teams and that would ruin the credibility of our competitions."

The riches on offer to teams qualifying for the lucrative Champions League has prompted several other counties to also invest heavily in players for the new season.

The reformatted domestic Twenty20 competition - from which the two finalists qualify for the Champions League - permits counties to register up to four overseas players, while fielding a maximum of two in each game.

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