Andrew Strauss' radical county overhaul revealed as he bids to convince reluctant chairmen

Andrew Strauss is proposing a big shake-up to the County Championship, with the former England captain looking to convince reluctant chairmen to get on board with his plans.

According to the Telegraph , Strauss is looking to implement just a six-team Premier Division with two feeder leagues of six underneath competing for a promotional play-off.

Each county would play at least 10 four-day matches across the season, playing each other home and away with the potential of play-off games following the end of the regular campaign to decide the Premier Division champions. In the two feeder leagues, the two leading sides will compete against each other to earn a Premier spot.

The reshuffle would not just have an impact on the format of the championship, but also the scheduling of English domestic cricket as a whole across the season.

The 50-over competition would be competed across April, the T20 blast will begin in the May, the Hundred in August and the County Championship throughout June, July and September. There is also a proposal for counties to play four-day matches during August, to allow players not selected in the Hundred to play added red ball cricket.

Despite his ideas, a number of county bosses across the circuit are reported to be reluctant to change the structure. Strauss requires 12 of the 18 counties to agree to his proposals for it to be signed off, with a ballot set to be held on September 20.

Big changes to the County Championship have been proposed by the ex-England skipper (Getty Images)

The former England skipper has warned the county chiefs that player disgruntlement is set to rise due to the high amount of playing time, if change is not made.

He told the Telegraph's Vaughany and Tuffers Cricket Club podcast : "There are loads of domestic franchise tournaments out there, likely to be one or two in the English summer starting pretty soon so our players have never had more options.

"The players as part of this review have said very strongly, ‘We play too much cricket, we don't have enough time to practise and prepare. The schedule is a mess.’ If we don't listen to them then they're going to start voting with their feet.”