Former England bowler Bob Willis

Minor counties would be absorbed into first-class associations with the chief commitment to make the domestic game serve the national cause better.

We sought reaction on these proposals from those involved in the day-to-day business of county cricket.

David Fulton, Kent captain

Fulton wants change but says all counties must have incentives

I'm not against the creation of an elite but I think you also have to be realistic. We have our 18-county structure which isn't going to disappear.

I understand where the Cricket Reform Group is coming from but we have to achieve the achievable and not live in realms of fantasy.

Under these plans, some fine English cricketers would be out of the elite.

The England captain, Michael Vaughan, could be facing bowlers from Northumberland the week before a Test match.

Unless you create a pathway for other counties to join the elite you could possibly alienate the rest who would have nothing to play for.

I would certainly relegate at least one or possibly two teams from the Premier League each season.

John Pickup, Minor Counties Cricket chairman

The Reform Group must surely have lost any credibility they had with this ridiculous suggestion From Jonathan Richards Have your say on TMS

Most minor county cricketers are amateur.

Our players have jobs and make plans to go on holiday so you cannot just tell someone they are playing Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday next week.

The current system is working. A lot of our younger cricketers play for county second XIs and although only a small proportion get county contracts some go all the way.

In the last Test England played, Chris Read (Devon) and Martin Saggers (Norfolk) were both in the team having successfully made the transfer.

In 2000, Northamptonshire won promotion to Division One with a bowling attack made up of former minor county cricketers.

We all sympathise with the need to produce better standards, but it's the way we go about it that's critical.

Peter Anderson, Somerset chief executive

Somerset have produced players of the ilk of Trescothick

We don't have a perfect world and we don't have a blank sheet of paper.

Both professional counties and minor counties are properly constituted and can't just be swept away at the drop of a hat.

At Somerset, we already have three on the playing staff from Cornwall and two from Devon.

What the Reform Group fails to recognise is the amount of development work counties are already doing with academies and University centres of cricketing academies.

We have also established the National Academy at Loughborough which sits on top of the hill.

Finally, reformers always go on about each county getting �1.3 million a year, but we are the ones who produce the England players and in our case we have four.

Jeremy Gahagan, lifelong Gloucestershire supporter

Last season, the team followed further one-day success with hard-earned promotion to county cricket's top flight.

The idea that the team would be forced to merge with Oxfordshire and would feature in a southern league is one I find hard to understand.

It would appear to be a huge backward step for the side.

The Premiership clubs would feed from the regional divisions and become stronger as a result in terms of international recognition and wealth of playing staff.

But this would leave poorer sides like Gloucestershire struggling to regain lost revenue that is so vital for the survival of smaller clubs.