The County Championship would be cut to a 12-match programme from 2010 under a radical restructuring idea handed by the ECB to broadcasters to measure market interest. While proposals are said to to be illustrative, they come from senior board level and are bound to alarm those concerned by a shift in emphasis from four-day to one-day cricket.

Michael Vaughan, the England captain, gave warning on Sunday of the dangers of over-encouraging the Twenty20 beast to the detriment of the Test team after winning the three-match npower series against New Zealand, but the desire to compete with the stellar rise of the lucrative Indian Premier League is evident from the plans drawn up by the ECB.

TV and radio companies have been asked to consider 27 packages involving various bundles of international and domestic cricket. The England schedule is defined - give or take the Zimbabwe issue and the Stanford millions - but the end of the existing media deals after the 2009 Ashes summer permits a significant rethink of county commitments.

Space has been found for an increase in one-day cricket by introducing a County Championship comprising three conferences of six counties along the lines suggested by Lord MacLaurin of Knebworth in 1997. Each county would play the six in the other two groups in the first stage, leading to semi-finals and a final.

For the 14 counties who do not progress it would mean a drop of four matches - 25 per cent - from the present two-division competition introduced in 2000. Around two years ago the county chief executives devised something similar, but the rationale then was to allow room in the calendar for practice and rest, not to sate a limited-overs craving.

Twenty20 would be expanded into an English Premier League comprising the 18 counties plus a further three teams, possibly from abroad including an Allen Stanford XI. The Pro40 would be bite-size matches, with innings split into two stages of 20 overs each. The 50-over format, replicating one-day internationals, would survive in some form.

The ECB has paid TNS, a leading market research company, about £75,000 to assess opinion among spectators of the new plans at Twenty20 Cup matches this season. TNS will also be present at international matches to gauge views on facilities and the “spectator experience” at leading grounds.