Bransgrove wants end of international Twenty20s

Rod Bransgrove, the high-profile Hampshire chairman, has outlined several radical proposals, including having two divisions in Test cricket and cutting down the number of Tests, to revitalise the game's longest format. He also advocated banning international Twenty20s and making ODIs 40-over-a-side games.

"I would reduce the number of Tests and remove all the meaningless games between aspiring countries and major Test nations," he told the Wisden Cricketer. "They are degrading the game; nobody is interested in them, nobody goes to them and nobody benefits."

To ensure more competitive Tests, Bransgrove wanted two divisions with six teams each. He mooted that relegation and promotion would be decided by an annual play-off between the top-ranked team from the second division and the bottom-ranked one in the first division.

He also recommended getting rid of international Twenty20s and having three major domestic Twenty20 leagues - the IPL, the English (and Welsh) Premier League, and a southern hemisphere competition - with windows in the international calendar to allow the game's leading players to participate. "The EPL would be jointly owned by all 18 counties and MCC (and, in part, by other important stakeholders such as ECB) but will be made up of eight or nine city-based franchises using the largest stadia to maximise revenues," he said. "Each of these competitions would run for four to five weeks when there is no international cricket so all players can take part."

As for the game's other major format, one-day internationals, Bransgrove felt that reducing them to 40-over affairs would "remove the boring middle 10 overs" as well as reduce interference from bad light.

Bransgrove is expected to echo these views at an ECB conference next Monday that was called by board chairman Giles Clarke to discuss the future of Test cricket.