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WORCESTERSHIRE chief executive Mark Newton believes that an English Premier League Twenty20 tournament should not be made up of city-based franchises.

A staunch supporter of the fast and furious format of the game, Newton feels that a league containing all 18 counties run throughout the season would be the best way to go.

But he knows that money and any television deals for the potential competition would have the biggest say in how an EPL competition would be set-up.

"The 18 counties have a constiutional right to play in ECB competitions so if they wanted a city-based franchised type competition then I would be against it," said Newton.

"I have said for a long time that Twenty20 cricket should replace the other one-day cricket and if the EPL was to run throughout the season with all the counties then I believe that would work.

"I'm not totally against the idea of regionalised teams, but it would need to be run over a shorter period, such as three weeks, where the counties' top players get together and the clubs are rewarded for that then that is a possibility - as long as we keep the current Twenty20 competition."

With Twenty20 cricket getting a bigger following the start of the Indian Premier League and recent talks between the ECB and Texan billioniare Sir Allen Stanford, the idea of the EPL has gathered pace.

But Newton would not want to see Twenty20 completely take over the sport.

"We need to retain four-day cricket," he said. "I think the four-day game is very good and something that must stay.

"But having so many different one-day competitions with different rules must change."

6:00am Wednesday 30th April 2008

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