At the end of a two-day England and Wales Cricket Board meeting at Lord's, the 18 counties and MCC, who make up the First-class Forum, decided by 15-1, with three abstentions, that after 109 years with the present system, the poor state of the game in this country demanded radical changes.
Glamorgan voted against the proposal while Durham, Essex and MCC abstained.
Lord MacLaurin, chairman of the ECB, said: ``We can raise the profile of the game and improve the quality of the players by making this change.'' He was confident that England at international level ``will benefit from the introduction of a harder-edged competition which has been missing in county cricket''. Tim Lamb, the board's chief executive, said the move would help to reduce the ``gap in standard'' between the domestic game and Test cricket.
Counties were assured by the board that they would not suffer financially by being in the lower division and that efforts would be made to prevent a football-style scenario with the best players bought up by the most powerful clubs.
Next summer will see the last year of the present championship in its one-division form. Teams will then be divided into two leagues of nine based on the 1999 table and the following year will see three teams promoted and three relegated.
Clubs will play the other eight sides in each division on a home-and-away basis. Although many sides favour calling the new divisions Premier and First, that decision has yet to be finalised.
David Graveney, speaking as the chief executive of the Professional Cricketers' Association, said he was confident that most players would support the change.
With Britannic Assurance ending their sponsorship of the championship this year, the board are looking for a new backer and Lord MacLaurin believes the two-division format will be financially attractive to business.
The alternative proposal for a regional competition to run in tandem with an unchanged championship was strangled almost at birth.
The only other possibility was to keep the structure in its present form but Lord MacLaurin said: ``No change was not an option.
``Cricket is a business. You can't go on looking at marketing information which gives you all the wrong signals and still say 'we will stay where we are'.
``We have been singularly unsuccessful for too many years and we have to change things around - and that we have done.
``I don't think it is the sole answer to our failure at international level, but it is a move forward. It isn't a magical cure to all our ills. Other things have to happen but this is part of the jigsaw we have put together for raising the standard.
``It is certainly going to be better for us than a system which has failed us over the past dozen years or so.
``Over a period of time, we should certainly produce better international cricketers. We have 400 in this country at the moment and we really should have one of the best international teams in the world.''
A year ago, the counties voted down similar proposals and Lord MacLaurin admitted it had then ``all been done in a bit of a rush. We weren't in a position to put financial safeguards to the counties then.
``Maybe the two-division scheme is coming through a year later than we would have liked but it has been well backed this time.''
Some counties have expressed fears that lack of support because of prolonged failure to get out of the lower division could lead to their extinction.
Lamb admitted: ``It has been a concern in the past. But now there will be a fluidity - not only with the championship but the two-division National League [one-day game] - which makes it unlikely a side will languish at the bottom of both leagues for any length of time.''
To combat financial worries, counties have been reassured that they will get the same share from central funds whichever division they are in.
Some clubs also fear the possibility of the richest and most successful counties cornering all the best available talent. Lamb said there were no plans presently for any ``substantive changes'' to the present registration system which seeks to prevent this happening.
The New Look Two divisions, names presently undecided, but Premier and First favoured. Teams will be allocated to their division based on the final table of the 1999 season. Counties will play each team in the same division on a home-and-away basis, giving 16 four-day championship matches. At the end of 2000 the bottom three teams in the upper league will be relegated and the top three in the lower league promoted. A sponsor has yet to be found, but more prize-money will be earmarked for the top division.
In 1999 Batsmen will have a free hit in the one-day National League following any no-ball. Points for a championship win will be reduced from 16 to 12 and increased for a draw from three to four. The number of four-day Second XI matches will be increased from two to six. Counties narrowly rejected proposal to play the Second XI championship on uncovered pitches.