Twenty20 cricket has become massively popular worldwide

A former deputy chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board has put forward plans for a new Twenty20 competition involving all 18 county sides.

Mike Soper envisages a two-division format, divided by the clubs who have Test match venues and those who do not.

Two thirds of the money generated would go to the clubs with Test venues, one third to those without.

But the latter would also receive an annual �500,000 ECB hand-out to help them improve their grounds.

Soper told the Independent newspaper it was vital that the whole of English cricket benefitted from any new initiatives to capitalise on Twenty20's popularity.

To make room for the new competition, the current Pro40 league would be scrapped.

Despite that, his proposal is less radical than that put forward last week by Keith Bradshaw, the secretary of the MCC, and Surrey chairman David Stewart, who want a new tournament which would see the traditional counties replaced by nine franchises.

They believe their scheme, outlined in a discussion document submitted to the ECB, involves "taking the best from the Indian Premier League and combining it with the strengths of the English game".

The non-Test match grounds have to be helped to improve their facilities and increase their capacity Mike Soper

The proposed tournament, which has support from Lancashire and Hampshire, would be scheduled for each June and July from 2010 onwards and last for 25 days.

But ECB chairman Giles Clarke remains in favour of the existing county structure.

"I'm not remotely interested in the reduction of counties," he commented.

And it may be, therefore, that Soper's plan is more likely to find favour when the ECB board meets at Lord's on Tuesday.

"To make money for the whole of cricket I believe we should have two leagues of nine, split into Test match grounds and non-Test match grounds," he said.

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"But the non-Test match grounds have to be helped to improve their facilities and increase their capacity.

"Therefore I propose that the Test match grounds lose �500,000 of their annual ECB hand-out, presently �1.3m, and that half million goes to the nine smaller grounds to help them to finance ground improvements."

Promotion and relegation would be introduced after the first three years, but in order to play in the top league, the other clubs must have a minimum capacity of 18,000 at their grounds.

"The ECB money should then revert to an equal share-out among all 18 counties," added Soper, who stood unsuccessfully against Clarke for the ECB chairmanship last September.