The make-up of the county schedule seems to be a topic that just fails to go away.

And, having seen the poor crowds at a number of grounds during the first fortnight of the Friends Life t20 competition, it really got me thinking about what could have been done to combat it.

I have come up with a rough plan for the summer of 2012, which I reckon would have had plenty of things going for it.

Bear in mind that this wouldn’t have needed to be employed for county summers to come, just this one.

It is clear that the Euro 2012 football tournament is having an impact on Twenty20 attendances, so they could have avoided a clash.

In my schedule, the Twenty20 would have been left until the back end of the county campaign.

You would have played your County Championship and Clydesdale Bank 40 matches to a finish from the start of the season, coming to a conclusion in approximately mid-August.

Then, with the World Twenty20 tournament due to take place in Sri Lanka from September 21, you could have played out the FLt20 from start to finish, including quarter-finals and Finals Day immediately afterwards.

England players would have played to prepare themselves for the World T20, thus automatically giving the domestic event more kudos and making it more attractive to the paying punter.

I read that Jimmy Anderson said a week or so ago that he was keen to play more domestic Twenty20, so I would be surprised if there would have been any opposition within the England camp.

The other thing, although this is fairly loose, is that the weather is generally at its best at the back end of the summer. Let’s face it, it couldn’t have been any worse than it has been for the last month or so.

To have made this work, this season’s international schedule would have needed to be altered.

The West Indies Test series would have started things off, followed by a run of one-day series against the Windies, Australia and South Africa.

Then, to finish in mid-August, you would have had the Test series against South Africa, the battle to be the world’s number one.

I must admit to having great sympathy with those charged with sorting this summer’s schedule out. With the Olympics on too, and Lord’s playing host to the Archery, fitting everything in must have been a complete nightmare.

But I reckon the framework of my plan may well have worked.