AUSTRALIAN all-rounder Glenn Maxwell has hailed England’s NatWest T20 Blast as “an amazing competition”, but thinks a move to franchise cricket and decreasing the number of teams will make it even better.

Maxwell is a veteran of the Big Bash and the Indian Premier League, arguably the two most exciting domestic leagues in the world.

But Yorkshire’s overseas star continues to be drawn back to England’s Blast competition having played for Hampshire, Surrey and now the Vikings every year since 2012.

The 26-year-old one-day World Cup winner made his fourth T20 appearance in a Yorkshire shirt yesterday against Northamptonshire at Headingley.

“It’s an amazing competition, and I hope it can catch up with the other T20 competitions around the world,” he said.

“With the current system, I think they’re behind only because of the number of teams. But once they change that, I think it’ll be an even better spectacle around the world.

“Obviously the grounds are smaller than they are in the Big Bash, but that heightens the atmosphere.

“Whenever you get a big crowd, it always seems about ten thousand bigger than it actually is because they’re so close to you and right on the fence giving you different types of abuse when you are playing away. It’s great to be part of.

“I loved the atmosphere at the Roses match. It was an incredible game to play in. It was a shame we weren’t on the winning side of the ledger. But, at the same time, it was an incredible night, and the crowd was into it from the start to the finish.”

Maxwell is somewhat of a lucky charm for his teams in English Twenty20.

Each time he has been involved in a campaign, his team has reached Finals Day – Hampshire in 2012 and 2014 and Surrey in 2013 – the only showpiece he has played in.

If he is to continue that trend with Yorkshire, however, he has urged them to be more consistent with the ball, echoing Jason Gillespie’s thoughts in the build-up to Northants yesterday.

“I think we’re just missing the mark at the moment,” he added.

“We’re giving teams a head start in the first six and then doing all the hard work to claw it back in the middle. Then, those last five overs are costing us too many runs.

“That has to be our main area for improvement.”

With compatriot Aaron Finch fit again having torn a hamstring at the start of April, Maxwell will now step down from Championship duty and play second XI red ball cricket around T20 fixtures.