The Indian Premier League has had a lot of effect so far on international cricket and it looks like it is going to continue.
The England board has already announced its intent of hosting a similar competition and the announcement has had an impact.
All County Championship cricket matches would be trimmed back to three days under a plan to make room for an Indian Premier League-style Twenty20 competition, according to The Times.
The proposal, which envisages the end of the four-day game, possibly by the summer of 2010, comes from Jack Simmons, the former spin bowler who is an influential chairman of the cricket committee of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).
It would create more space in the summer calendar for Twenty20, but as a result 120 overs would have to be bowled each day, up from 96 at present.
One of the conundrums thrown up by the ECB's plans to stage a Twenty20 competition with overseas players or teams in the short English summer is how to tailor this around 64 days of County Championship cricket while allowing players time for recuperation.
The obvious need to develop Test cricketers means that a structured first-class programme has to continue.
Simmons's informal proposal is that, rather than reduce the number of four-day championship matches played by each county from 16 to 12, these should be staged over three days, which would necessitate starting half an hour earlier and finishing half an hour later.
"I suggested this two years ago, but the feeling was that the regulations had changed too much already," he said. "I think the county chairmen would agree to a reduction in matches if they are going to make more money from Twenty20 cricket."
Simmons will wait for an announcement on the ECB's proposed Twenty20 league before proposing his views to other members of the ECB's cricket subcommittee, who include Andy Fordham, Mike Gatting, Hugh Morris, Brian Rose, John Stephenson and a representative from each of the Professional Cricketers' Association (PCA) and the First-Class Cricket Umpires Association.
Given that the ECB is intent on creating more space for a Twenty20 competition of its own, that the climate is such that extending the season into October would be a risky strategy and that more time for recuperation is considered increasingly important, the Championship is vulnerable.
Extending a day's play to 120 overs would be bound to mean some late finishes and yet the reduction this season to 96 overs in a day often has not resulted in 6pm closures, because bowlers are not getting through their overs more quickly.
