A blueprint has been prepared for a Twenty20 tournament to be staged in England which will rival the Indian Premier League, BBC Sport understands.
The radical proposal would see the county structure replaced by nine franchises based on the grounds that already stage Tests and one-day games.
The event is scheduled to be held in June and July from 2010.
The document of proposals will be put forward for discussion by the England and Wales Cricket Board this month.
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In order not to be left behind, England agreed to play five winner-takes-all Ј10m Twenty20 matches in the Caribbean this autumn.
But the new blueprint could have a deeper impact on the domestic game in England and Wales, which is already under review by ECB chairman Giles Clarke.
"The proposal comes with the backing of the MCC, Hampshire, Lancashire and Surrey," explained BBC Radio 5 Live cricket correspondent Jonathan Agnew.
"This tournament would effectively abolish the long-established county structure. The smaller counties will see this as the beginning of the end.
"The question is, will cricket lovers in this country who have been brought up following counties go to watch nominally Manchester, Birmingham, Southampton, north London, south London and the list goes on?
"But the most controversial aspect - is not that the event is not going to be owned by the ECB, it will be a new company in which the ECB would be merely a stakeholder.
"It's a radical suggestion - but it's purely that at the moment."
The ECB led the way in the quickfire form of the game by introducing a domestic Twenty20 competition in 2003.
But the new proposals include plans to rival the IPL by using a bidding process to attract the biggest stars of the international stage.
It is also suggested that each squad consists of 12 home-grown players, with a salary cap of Ј1.5m.
(BBC)
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