Kent's cricket landscape will receive a major overhaul ahead of next season with a new countywide division for teams currently outside the Kent League.

After a year of discussions, the Kent Feeder League East and West will merge at a meeting at Addington CC, West Malling, on Thursday to form the Kent Cricket Regional League.

Keith Hemstalk, current chairman of Feeder League East, who is proposed as the first chairman of the new set-up, said the reshuffle is aimed at reducing journey times and travel costs for teams without compromising the quality of cricket.

The new league's top division will be a countywide Premier League, with localised East and West Championships forming the tier below.

Mr Hemstalk said: "The Premier Division will bring together the best teams in the county at this grade. These are teams that want countywide cricket and are striving for a shot at the Kent League.

"By placing these teams in a Premier Division, it will be highly competitive cricket with no easy games. It will also prepare these clubs better for the Kent League.

"It will effectively be Kent League Division 6 and will ensure that the sides that deserve to go to the Kent League will do so."

Below the Championship, there will be four regionalised competitions, each with two divisions - the Metropolitan, West, Central and East Divisions 1A and B. The East may possibly have a Division 1C.

Second XI cricket will also receive an overhaul but there will be no countywide division at this level.

Mr Hemstalk said clubs were "excited" by the proposed changes which he claimed were designed to ensure every team "has a competitive game at their own standard every week."

Mr Hemstalk said: "It is extremely difficult. We have been agonising over what teams to put where for a draft structure. The feedback has shown that the vast majority are looking forward to the new structure. There might be one or two who feel they are in the wrong division but we would hope they would prove us wrong by winning the league."