HAMPSHIRE chairman Rod Bransgrove believes English county cricket must receive an injection of "sex and pizzazz" - and believes football's Premiership is an ideal role model to follow.

Bransgrove disregards the thoughts of cricket's traditionalists when he admits cricket requires an urgent shake-up.

He would like to see an end to limitations regarding overseas players like Hampshire's Shane Warne in the domestic game.

He wants counties to be rewarded for playing Engish-qualified players by getting bigger cash sums from the ECB.

He supports the introduction of the 20-over evening league set to replace the Benson & Hedges Cup in 2003.

"A lot of people say to me that they don't want cricket to go down the same lines as football," said Bransgrove.

"I say 'yes, I bloody well do want it' - that's exactly what I want, with the exception of paying players as much as Premiership clubs do.

"We need to introduce more star quality into the game, we have to get more youngsters involved in the sport.

"We need to inject a bit more sex into cricket, a bit more pizzazz. Kids want heroes - they want to see the big names play.

"With the 20-over league, it's clear from the market research that people want a faster game, a more accessible game for youngsters.

"It's up to us to give them what they want."

Earlier this year counties voted to increase the number of overseas players in a team from one to two, starting in 2003.

Bransgrove welcomed that switch, but admits he wouldn't have stopped there. "I think counties should have absolute freedom to sign who they want. That's what I would like to see but it would never be voted through," he said.

"If they want to sign an entire team of overseas players, that would be fine.

"If they wanted to play an entire team of under-25 players who were all English qualified, that would be fine as well.

"But I believe that counties should be rewarded for attempting to bring English-qualified players through the system.

"At the moment all the counties get the same lump sum from the ECB. But I would change it so that if a county had less foreigners than others, they should get a larger sum of money to reward them for playing Englishqualified players."

Despite wanting to see more overseas players in county cricket, Bransgrove believes Hampshire's academy is capable of providing a stream of home-grown talent.

"We want to bring more players through the academy. We have brought some through like James Adams, John Francis and Chris Tremlett and we want to keep on doing that," he said. "Ideally, we'd have the big names playing alongside the best youngsters who have come through from the academy."

Bransgrove said that central contracts - which limit England's top players' domestic appearances - provide further evidence why extra foreign blood is required.

"I voted in favour of central contracts because if Duncan Fletcher is going to be judged on what kind of job he's doing, we had to let him do it his way," he commented. "It wouldn't be fair to judge him otherwise.

"But if he's doing it his way, we expect to see some improvements as a result of that. I don't necessarily think the contracts have been managed the right way. I don't like to see them being used as an excuse not to play the top players in county cricket.

"If Duncan Fletcher feels that his players play too much county cricket then he is seriously wrong. That's a nonsense. But they are here and we have to accept them. That's why it's even more important that counties are allowed to sign high quality replacements."