Soper claims he has never come across player 'burn-out'

Soper, who will compete with Somerset's Giles Clarke to replace current chief David Morgan, says there is little justification for a cut in fixtures.

"Player burn-out is not something I've seen and a new 40-40 competition may be on the horizon," he told BBC Five Live.

However, the ICC told the BBC that "no such proposal is under consideration".

606: DEBATE Is player burn-out a myth?

Soper, who is currently deputy to Morgan - the man who beat him to the top job in 2002 - is regarded as the favourite to take over as chairman when Morgan steps down on 30 September.

And it was thought that one area of concern as the new chairman might be reducing the demands of international cricket on players.

England batsman Kevin Pietersen is the latest to complain of fatigue due to international commitments, but Soper said: "At certain times there is a lot of cricket, but taken over the whole year there isn't.

At certain times there is a lot of cricket, but taken over the whole year there isn't Mike Soper

"If you think about it as regards one-day cricket for example, a lot of countries play a lot more matches than we do.

"There is a lot of talk of 'burn-out' but I was chairman at Surrey for eight years and I didn't see it and I don't know where this talk is coming from.

"Squads are now more specialist anyway - split between one-day cricket and four-day cricket - and so burn-out is not something I've encountered."