I love the county game - but the structure is not working Michael Vaughan

Vaughan's proposals would also see the first-class counties divided into two divisions.

Each side would then play the others in their division only once in the course of a season, with a two-week gap between matches.

"You only have to watch county cricket to see the enthusiasm levels drained out of players," Vaughan told Wisden Cricketer magazine.

"Jon Lewis, of Gloucestershire said after the Headingley Test that he had played 21 out of 24 days - that simply can't be right."

Lord MacLaurin, former chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board, believes a third of the 18 counties must go because of cash problems caused by falling TV revenues.

Hampshire chairman Rod Bransgrove, meanwhile, has proposed a system which would see the number of first-class counties reduced from 18 to 14, and split into two divisions of seven.

MacLaurin calls for cuts

But he has also called for the introduction of a third division of seven more clubs which would be semi-professional.

Bransgove believes the current structure of the county game exists to "protect the weak, not grow the strong".

But any proposal to reduce the number of first-class counties, including the possibility of some of them merging, is likely to be strongly resisted by some counties.

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Somerset chairman Giles Clarke recently told the Daily Telegraph: "If football hasn't had to do it, I don't see why cricket should."

But Vaughan is not the only high-profile player to back change.

Former England captains Mike Atherton and Bob Willis are among the members of a Cricket Reform Group, who also see the restructuring of county cricket as essential if England are to achieve consistenyl good results in international cricket.

"For England to improve and the gap to close between domestic and Test cricket, those higher up have to do something about a county structure which contains too much cricket," Vaughan added.