England one-day captain Eoin Morgan insists cricket bosses are right to be "upsetting" die-hard fans with their radical 100-ball competition plans.
England's limited-overs captain believes only bold restructuring can help to cement the sport's future, amid a backdrop of Test match struggles and a burgeoning global Twenty20 offering.
The England and Wales Cricket Board's new eight-team format competition which will begin in 2020 was expected to be a T20 set-up, but will now consist of 15 six-ball overs and a final over of 10 balls.
Middlesex star Morgan has thrown his weight behind the move, adamant that cricket must evolve or "die".
"It sounds different, it sounds like something is there to create a really good, viable product to sell to people outside of cricket," said Morgan.
"I have a lot of friends outside of cricket that would never come to a cricket match, but have already said they enjoy that there's been a little bit of noise about it, because it's upsetting people that already come to the game.
"And that is the point of it. We're trying to grow the game.
"Cricket participation levels have been going down for quite a while, and we need to do something different to change the reputation of the sport, or the perceived barriers that need to be broken down in order to play the sport.
"Because if we continue to stay rigid and don't change anything for a long period of time, the sport will die."
Morgan was one of only three players consulted before the ECB launched their plans, amid a flurry of shock and surprise.
While Morgan sees the value of ruffling a few establishment feathers to further the sport's own ends, he also believes the new competition will not ultimately alienate any traditionalists.
"It's not designed to kill off people who love cricket. I absolutely love cricket, so it won't kill off me," said Morgan.
"People hate change, and it would be very easy for us to sit here and say 'Test cricket is great, 50 overs is okay, but T20 is something we just don't talk about that's going through the roof and everybody wants to watch it, but yet, we don't do anything about it'.
