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Kevin Pietersen is encouraged the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) have met with Allen Stanford, the Texan billionaire behind the domestic Stanford Twenty20 competition in the West Indies.

The ECB are reported to be looking at adding some Stanford-backed Twenty20 matches to the schedule for the tour of the Caribbean next year.

Those matches could help fill the gap before an English Premier League comes into being.

England batsman Pietersen, speaking ahead of Hampshire’s County Championship opener at home to title-holders Sussex on Wednesday, said: “Twenty20 looks like the way forward.

“It’s a three-hour game with a winner, like football or rugby, and it is what spectators want to see.

“This is the way cricket seems to be going. I want to play more of it and get good at it. It requires different shots and a different way of playing.

“When it started it was all a bit slap-dash but it is turning into a game where it is being taken far more seriously.

“A lot of people have played more Twenty20 than me and it has a worldwide following now.

“Until I hear more about Stanford and his proposals I cannot comment, but it sounds great, very exciting for players and spectators.”

All these potential changes to the cricket calendar have been sparked by the inaugural Indian Premier League (IPL), which starts on Friday.

Meanwhile South Africa-born Pietersen, who unlike Mascarenhas has an England central contract, insisted he had no further comment to make about the IPL.

“I have said all I am going to say about the IPL,” he insisted.

“I am not going to get into a slanging match with the people who employ me. I do not want to jeopardise my England career. All I ever asked for was some space to play both.”

Source:Cricket News