ANDREW GALE insists now is the time for English cricket to take the bull by the horns and incorporate a Twenty20 franchise competition into the domestic schedule.

The Yorkshire captain is one of many admirers of Australia’s ongoing Big Bash League, where eight teams play as cities instead of the usual states such as Victoria or New South Wales.

Interest has gone through the roof, with the New Year’s Eve clash between Adelaide and Hobart attracting a crowd of 43,000.

Although no English ground has the capability to match that crowd, the T20 Blast struggles for attendances. Yorkshire, for example, only regularly sell out their matches against Lancashire.

“I think eight to ten franchises here would be fine with a competition played over a three-week period,” said the left-handed batsman, who will play in the 2015 T20 Blast over a three-and-a-half month period from May 15.

“That would mean a lot of counties would be made redundant during that time, but the money generated by the franchises would be far more significant than the 18 counties currently get.

“You could split the money equally, and it could go into Academies, facilities and as far down as grassroots.

“I think if you can get the franchises so that wherever you live, they are within an hour and a half of your house, that would be perfect.”

Gale, who would start any such competition in early June just after the Indian Premier League has finished so to attract the star names, continued: “How you name the franchises, I’m not sure, that’s down to the marketing people.

“A lot of people have said they’d never follow a Leeds franchise because they are Sheffield United football fans or Doncaster Rovers fans. For me, that’s irrelevant. We have to move on from that view.

“It might take a little bit of time to drag people along, but at the end of the day, what do they want to see? Do they want to see Chris Gayle, Kieron Pollard, Dhoni and Kohli?

“It’s about getting the best players involved consistently.

“We were lucky last year to get Aaron Finch for a prolonged period of time, but to do that he had to play all formats, which worked for us and for him on that occasion.

“Pollard, for example, would be a difficult one on that basis because he doesn’t even want to play Test cricket for his country.

“He wouldn’t want to come and play Championship cricket.

“For me, it doesn’t matter what teams are called as long as the superstars are playing.

“You could name them after an area in a similar way they do in South Africa, the North West Rhinos, something like that.

“Watching the Big Bash last year when I was over there, it’s such a good spectacle. I think the ECB have tried to improve every year on what they’ve got, but now’s the time to be bold.

“You never know, we could be looking at 15,000 at Headingley every week. At the moment, we are just treading water.”

As part of Gale’s plan, there would still be a county competition for players not selected by franchises, but that would be played on club grounds, which would also increase interest in those areas.

Gale first aired some of his views on Twitter over the weekend, and he continued: “People were saying to me on Twitter that I wouldn’t get a game if there were ten franchises,” he said.

“No problem. So be it. But we have to find a way of inspiring the next generation.”

In Australia’s Big Bash, there are plenty of players who play for a team outside their state.

So would Gale be happy to play for another team if he wasn’t picked up by a Yorkshire-based franchise. Maybe even a Lancashire based team?

“Absolutely,” he said. “It doesn’t make you a mercenary. You’re not turning your back on your county.

“Your heart will always lie with your home county, but if their franchise doesn’t want you or if you want to test the water elsewhere, it can only improve you as a player.”

Gale says he would love to sit down with the ECB to discuss his ideas, which also include an FA Cup-style 50-over competition involving two club teams who had earned the right to qualify. Former England skipper Michael Vaughan is also a fan of such an idea.

Gale would also love to see English teams return to play in the Champions League T20.