So Kevin Pietersen is the latest to suggest regionalising county cricket? I thought this was a good idea in 1995 and nothing has changed my mind since. Quality must come first.

Overseas players and anyone with a logical view of the game have been banging on about the treadmill that is county cricket for donkey’s years yet nobody in power has ever listened. Finishing a four-day game on a Saturday, playing a one-day game on the Sunday before travelling on Monday to prepare for another four-day game on the Wednesday is a typical scenario and cannot ever foster quality, intense cricket.

Dean Jones, as captain of championship runner-up Derbyshire in 1995, complained about a lack of preparation time and cited how Australian state teams have the best part of a week to prepare for matches. Is it a coincidence that they have led the world for the last 15 years? I think not.

It is only natural that players will go through the motions and the end result is that players achieving at domestic level struggle to make the step-up at Test level … Ramprakash, Shah, Bopara, Bell…the list is a long one. These guys should be quality Test players and able to replicate their county form.

Ok the quality of county cricket cannot be held accountable for everything as players have to take responsibility for their own games and fragile temperaments have sometimes been to blame but the domestic game is flawed and has been for many years.

I suggest, as I and other followers have thought for 15 years, splitting the 18 first-class county teams into six regions. A skeleton county structure as it is now can still co-exist for players that have not made the regional squad.

Imagine the quality of such a set-up with the following possible squads: England players will come and go depending on the international calendar but squads will be strong in any case to cope with their absences.

There should be two overseas players contracted per region with only one able to play at any time. I think it is important to retain overseas players in the game to inspire youngsters though there should be an emphasis on signing quality or up and coming quality players as Allan Donald was with Warwickshire in the mid to late 1980s before he played for South Africa.         

Traditionalist county members and committee men will oppose such a plan and may point to how rivalries like Yorkshire-Lancashire or Warwickshire-Worcestershire will be lost but they will not. The sub-structure will retain these matches and clashes. We are merely increasing the quality of the English game and in actual fact adding a stepping stone to the international game that will allow talented county players to take one step up to Test and one-day cricket rather five. 

On a commercial level, the addition of this event will weaken the existing county set-up but on the positive side more opportunities will be created for youngsters who are currently not getting a game or due promotion from the Second XI. The better quality cricket and novelty concept should also be exciting for Sky Sports to broadcast. The extra revenue would be able to fund the county structures with revenue share deals in place between the three partner clubs. Some teams would probably be entitled to a larger share depending on current balance sheets and commercial performance.  

Teams:
South Zone (Hampshire, Sussex, Kent)
North Zone (Durham, Yorkshire, Lancashire)
West Zone (Somerset, Gloucestershire, Glamorgan)
South East Zone (Essex, Middlesex, Surrey)
Midlands North (Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire)
Midlands South (Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Northamptonshire)

Possible line-ups:
South Zone XII (with heavily engaged Kevin Pietersen and Matt Prior to come in):
Robert Key, Joe Denly, Ed Joyce, Murray Goodwin, Michael Yardy, Luke Wright, Geraint Jones, Dimitri Mascarenhas, James Tredwell, Chris Tremlett, Amjad Khan, Ajantha Mendis (overseas player).

North Zone XII (with Paul Collingwood and James Anderson to come in):
Will Smith, Jacques Rudolph, Michael Di Venuto, Shivnarine Chanderpaul (overseas player), Ian Blackwell, Phil Mustard, Adil Rashid, Tim Bresnan, Liam Plunkett, Sajid Mahmood, Steve Harmison, Graham Onions.  

South East Zone XII (with Alastair Cook and Andrew Strauss to come in):
Scott Newman, Ravi Bopara, Mark Ramprakash, Owais Shah, Eoin Morgan, Dawid Malan, James Foster, Graham Napier, Gareth Batty, Tim Murtagh, Steven Finn, Danish Kaneria (overseas).

West Zone XII:
Marcus Trescothick, Kadeer Ali, Jim Allenby, James Hildreth, Jamie Dalrymple, Alex Gidman, Zander de Bruyn, Craig Kieswetter, Peter Trego, Dean Cosker, Jon Lewis, Steve Kirby.

Midlands North & East XII (with Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann to come in):
Chris Rogers (overseas), Mark Wagh, James Taylor, Wavell Hinds, Samit Patel, Chris Read, Paul Nixon, Graham Wagg, Jonathan Clare, Ryan Sidebottom, Darren Pattinson, Charlie Shreck. 

Midlands South & West XII
Darryl Mitchell, Stephen Moore, Ian Bell, Jonathan Trott, Vikram Solanki, Moeen Ali, Tim Ambrose, Rikki Clarke, Chris Woakes, Kabir Ali, Monty Panesar, Nicky Boje (overseas).