Australia look to revamp domestic Twenty20

Australia's domestic Twenty20 competition may feature their international players from 2009-10.

Cricket Australia is looking at ways to revamp the existing the domestic Twenty20 competition of the 2009-10 season, with the idea of involving Australia's international players in the tournament.

"We're really aware of a lot of things that are developing at the moment in Twenty20 cricket, particularly with domestic competitions," James Sutherland, Cricket Australia's chief executive, told the Melbourne-based Age. "We're already on the record as saying we are planning a revamp of our Twenty20 Big Bash. It will be a larger and [on] different scale in 2009-10, but we see that there is a lot to learn from other parts of the world and we are closely monitoring that."

On Wednesday the England board unveiled the English Premier League - to include 18 counties and two overseas teams divided in to two divisions - to get underway in 2010.

Cricket Australia officials will present financial models of the proposed revamp to its directors next month and is looking for a window in the season when it can schedule the Twenty20 tournament. Last season each of the six states played the others once before Victoria beat Western Australia in the final. Sutherland said it was not easy to find a period in Australia's summer when international players could also participate in the tournament.

"The challenges of our summer period, which coincides with the cricket season for eight or nine of the 10 Test-playing countries, means that period from September through to April is a very busy time ... There aren't many opportunities to play state cricket. We'd love to see them play more and if we can find a window, we will."