FORMER Somerset County Cricket Club chairman Andy Nash has expanded on his reasons for resigning from the England & Wales Cricket Board, saying he "could not reconcile his conscience" with the governing body's plans for the future of the English game.

Yesterday the news broke that Nash had quit as ECB director, with his resignation letter saying that he feared a plan to “promote eight counties as the first among equals".

The ECB said in a statement that it had accepted his resignation, and thanked him for his hard work.

Today, Nash - who was chairman of Somerset for 10 years from 2007 - elaborated on his decision in an interview with BBC Radio Somerset.

He spoke about the award of hosting rights to the eight largest Test match grounds from 2020 to 2024, and the report in The Times that those venues would receive £500,000 for each year in which they do not host a Test.

This means that Hampshire, who were not awarded any Tests in that period, would be in line for £2.5m in compensation.

Nash said: "That is a very substantial development, clearly something in my view which should have been discussed by the board before it got anywhere near the public domain.

"If as directors you're learning about that through the media, something is very wrong... it's an unacceptably poor standard of corporate governance."

He went on to expand on his fears for the future of the English counties system, which historically has shared equally between the 18 counties, but could see Somerset as one of those on the outside looking in.

"This direction of travel suggests the favouring of an elite band of eight, and that is not something which I could reconcile my conscience to.

"I felt I did all I could to try and fix things internally, but there comes a point where as non-executive director, if you cannot achieve satisfaction, then you walk the plank and do so with dignity."

He concluded on a more positive note, adding: "I'm sure [the ECB] will listen a little more attentively to some of the concerns raised by fans of the counties around the country.

"The ECB is full of extremely good and well-intentioned people, and I'm sure they will take the right decisions for the game going forwards."