Notts and Yorkshire in Twenty20 action this year

Counties have welcomed a major overhaul of domestic cricket which will see the creation of a Twenty20 English Premier League from 2010.

Notts director of cricket Mick Newell said: "Twenty20 attracts crowds and the players enjoy it. The EPL will attract some high quality overseas players."

The EPL will have two divisions of 10 teams featuring the 18 existing counties plus two overseas teams.

There will also be a Twenty20 League to replace the existing Twenty20 Cup.

The England and Wales Cricket Board has yet to confirm which foreign teams will play in the EPL but the winners of the Indian Premier League and a Sir Allen Stanford XI are rumoured to be the ones that will be chosen.

The EPL will be played in June while the Twenty20 League will feature primarily on Friday nights in July, August and September.

The County Championship format will remain unchanged but the Pro40 will be scrapped after next season.

606: DEBATE Why have two (Twenty20) league competitions taking up all of the summer. It's overkill to say the least PaulB67

Glamorgan chairman Paul Russell told BBC Wales: "Such will be the attraction of this new tournament because in June no one plays cricket except in England and Wales.

"So it will be a new product with a new excitement and a new attraction."

The ECB did reject a radical proposal by David Stewart and Keith Bradshaw, which would have left out half of the counties.

Russell, whose county would have benefited from the franchise idea, was pleased it had not been given the go-ahead.

"We believe that there was little appetite amongst the public for city-based franchises and there was certainly no demand from the broadcasters," Russell added.

"Cricket is a business and it must be treated as a business, and as any other business it must make a profit."