Bob Willis: Proposed ECB changes do not go far enough

Sky Sports cricket expert Bob Willis has backed the ECB’s plans to change domestic cricket but does not believe they go far enough.

From 2017, the County Championship will consist of an eight-team Division One with 10 teams in the second tier, with alterations also made affecting the NatWest T20 Blast and Royal London One-Day Cup.

But Willis is keen for English cricket to adopt showpiece a T20 tournament in the style of the Big Bash or Indian Premier League - which he refers to as an 'English Premier League' - with fewer sides playing in larger venues.

"It's a step in the right direction but I don't think it goes far enough," he told Sky Sports News HQ.

"I know how reluctant many of the counties are to progress to an English Premier League but we have seen the success of the Big Bash and the IPL.

"I can't help but believe that England should be doing the same thing with an eight-team Premier League in T20 cricket.

"There's no reason why the 18 counties couldn't play their own competition alongside that but I really do feel there is an opportunity to play at big stadia, even the Olympic Stadium say, and get crowds of 40,000-plus watching T20 cricket.

"I am pleased [ECB chairman] Colin Graves has made some progress but it's not gone far enough as far as I am concerned."

Instead, Willis would prefer to see more of a focus on high-profile teams whose progress could benefit the national side, with the former England pace bowler highlighting the fact that most counties who play at Test match venues are already in the top division of the County Championship.

"We've more-or-less got a Premier League with nine teams in the first division," he added.

"We are seeing that the Test match grounds, apart from Somerset, inhabit the first division, and it is only Glamorgan who host Test matches and are in the second division.

I am pleased [ECB chairman] Colin Graves has made some progress but it's not gone far enough as far as I am concerned.

"We have got an elite group already in the County Championship.

"I would like to see the four-day games reduced to 10 per season, with three divisions with six teams in each, and then have a real focus on the English Premier League in the holiday months.

"There is a great opportunity in 2018 to go a step further. The focus on 50-over cricket in April and May is in preparation for the Champions Trophy which is taking place in England in 2017.

"We have got a much bigger event - the World Cup - here in 2019, so I believe 2018 is the season in which major changes should be made."