Kevin Pietersen backs idea of English Twenty20 Premier League

The new England and Wales Cricket Board chairman, Colin Graves, will take up his position in May and has expressed enthusiasm for launching an English Premier League.

It could operate along the lines of the highly successful Indian Premier League and Australian Big Bash, with county teams compounded into a smaller number of franchise sides, based in major cities.

Graves told BBC Sport: "We've got to look at an English Premier League somewhere and how we can fit that into the calendar.

"We can't ignore it. It's been successful in India and Australia, so why shouldn't it be successful over here?"

Former England batsman Pietersen has been an advocate of introducing franchise cricket to England, having played in the Indian and Australian leagues.

His future could be solely as a batsman-for-hire in such tournaments, having recently been released by Surrey.

Pietersen, 34, wrote on Twitter: "New @ECB_cricket chairman wants a T20 English franchise tournament! Absolutely brilliant! Forward thinking & brilliant for all players!"

Asked by a fellow user of the social network if the "horse has bolted", Pietersen replied: " Better late than never! Good sign for future of English Cricket"

He added: " I've been saying it for 6yrs! Just to wrong management!"