The England and Wales Cricket Board are unlikely to stand in Middlesex's way if they decide to become England's sole representative at this winter's inaugural Champions League tournament.

The newly-crowned Twenty20 Cup winners have been placed in a difficult position since beating Kent in Saturday's final due to the ECB's conflict with their Indian counterparts over a number of issues.

Middlesex are set to receive an invitation to join the two finalists from Australia, South Africa and India and a team from Pakistan in the lucrative tournament this autumn.

Both finalists were initially to be invited but runners-up Kent are set to be excluded because they fielded two players - Justin Kemp and Azhar Mahmood - who have featured in the rebel Indian Cricket League.

The ECB are due to discuss the proposal over the next few days - and possibly at Monday's board meeting - before deciding whether to wait and enter two sides in the 2009 event instead.

But they are unlikely to prevent Middlesex playing either should they wish in a tournament which will boast a £3million total prize pot.

Middlesex remain non-committal but secretary Vinny Codrington confirmed: "We would obviously consult with the ECB before making any final decision.

"I haven't seen the offer yet but we are part of the ECB and we'd have to go through the consultation with them.

"From our point of view we've got extremely good relations with both BCCI [Indian board] and the ECB and we're excited about the fact the tournament is going ahead and we'll have to wait and see what happens."

England had expected to be a founder member of the event with voting rights and shares alongside India, South Africa and Australia but are now more likely to accept a role as a participant only.

The ECB are also dubious about the dates announced from India yesterday, September 29-October 8, the event starting just one day after the Champions Trophy finishes.

The International Cricket Council have ruled that no official international events can be staged a week before or a week after a global event.

The BCCI may argue that as there are only domestic teams in the competition it should not be regarded as an international event, although as they sought official recognition from the ICC several weeks ago, that undermines their argument.

Should the ICC withdraw official status for the Champions League, its standing would be relegated to that of rebel tournaments like the ICL, which has caused the major conflict between the BCCI and ECB during negotiations.

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