ECB chairman-in-waiting Colin Graves has pledged to reinforce cricket's place “in the hearts of the public” - with a revamped Twenty20 competition and a return to terrestrial television possibly on the agenda.

Graves is set to succeed current incumbent Giles Clarke, who will move into a newly created role as ECB president at the end of his current term of office.

The Yorkshire chairman promised “a top-to-bottom review of cricket” when the reforms were announced earlier this week.

“We have got to do something and not just do it the old-fashioned way of looking at what the ECB wants,” he said.

“Cricket still has a place in the hearts of the public but we have to work hard so everybody likes to watch it and play it.”

The success of Australia's Big Bash League, following the Indian Premier League as a Twenty20 spectacle, has increased calls for English cricket to explore a similar format.

Both the Big Bash and the IPL have only eight teams – or franchises.

While in the IPL each team plays each other twice for a total of 14 qualifying group games, each team only has eight qualifiers in the Big Bash.

All 18 English counties take part in the NatWest Big Blast, split into two qualifying groups of nine and featuring 14 qualifying games.

“We have something that works only so far and can be better,” Graves said of the current English format.

“We have lost our way a bit in Twenty20.

“We have to look at that and other ways and means and ask if we can do a second T20 [competition]. I don't know. That is why I want to look at the schedule we have and ask, ‘How can we do it better?’ “You look at the Big Bash and see the crowds they are attracting and it is great, but when you look at the figures they are losing money on it.

“But we will look at everything.”

The English t20 competition started in 2003, with each county playing just five qualifying group games.

The popularity of the short format led to expansion, reaching a peak in 2010 when each county had 16 qualifying group games shoehorned into a relatively short period of the domestic campaign.

Last season, for the first time, the Big Blast season was elongated, with more games being played on family-friendly Friday nights.