April 16 2008: World cricket’s new face will reveal itself on Friday when the Indian Premier League begins and the complexion will be altered drastically in the next decade.

That is the opinion of England captain Michael Vaughan, who reckons those who do not view the sport in a global manner will be left behind.

The England and Wales Cricket Board are at an advanced stage of exploring possibilities for their own sibling version of the million-dollar Indian 20-over competition.

And Texan billionaire Sir Allen Stanford, in London for talks with the ECB, has offered a £10million pot for a one-off match between England and a West Indies All-Star XI in Antigua next winter.

The attraction of cricket’s shortest format is such that the possibilities appear endless and international city cricket in different venues around the world appears feasible.

Home-grown cricketers representing Leeds, London and Birmingham in different competitions around the world 12 months a year appears eminently conceivable.

"Yes, you can see that in 10 years’ time," Vaughan said.

"You can think of millions of ideas and that would be one of them you would come up with.

"It is just a vision but you can see something like that happening.

"I sit down all the time and try to think about things; I have played international cricket for the last 10 years and a lot has changed.

"I’ve played first-class cricket for the last 16 years and so much has changed in that time.

"It has made me think ‘what is it going to be like in 10 or 16 years from now - will it become city cricket?’

"That is a long way off but I do see an area in the future where there will be different leagues around the world and we shouldn’t think of it as a threat, we should all think of it as an opportunity for cricket.

"It really is an opportunity, there are so many more people talking about cricket because of the IPL, who never even knew about cricket, so it has to be a good thing.

"All players want to play against the best players in the world and if they’re all in the IPL, most players will want to go and play."

However, Vaughan, 33, who is keen on a season in IPL or something similar himself in future, fears the day that 20-over cricket is a catalyst for premature retirements and general unavailability at international level.

"I don’t want that ever to happen because first and foremost playing for England has to be the pinnacle of anyone’s career," he said.

"And you want players to be made available, want to play in one-day cricket, Twenty20 cricket, Test-match cricket.

"If it ever came to a stage where a player was retiring early or choosing to fall out of one-day cricket to play IPL cricket or Twenty20 league cricket, that would be a huge worry.

"Somewhere down the line a schedule will be put in place where players will be made available because there is just too far too much money being thrown.

"Life is not all about money but it does help; even young players at Yorkshire want to talk about IPL cricket, it is on the tip of everyone’s tongues."

The ECB appear to have softened their stance towards centrally-contracted players competing in future IPL seasons while a window of a fortnight is opening to England’s premier players after the tour of the West Indies next year.

And Vaughan, who will play in all forms of cricket for Yorkshire this summer, wants to add to his experience in the shortest form of the game.

"I have only ever played two Twenty20 games in my life: a first-ball duck and 27 against Australia," said Vaughan.

"So I am not sure how big my contract would be in the IPL!

"I am sure there will be an opportunity arise for me somewhere in the future.

"But I am looking forward to playing in the Twenty20 tournament this summer, I have never played in it, so I would love a dash at it and see how far I could hit it."