why not just make the english county championship the breeding ground for all the smaller nations. Its a more popular game there than its often given credit for with average crowds in the thousands as soon as the sun is out.Regardless of standard of domestic competition, it is still possible to watch players relative to their peers and select them based on that, just requires more effort from selectors to actually identify the talent.
The likes of NZ and WI cant afford FC competition. England have too many teams for its own good. It seems an obvious merger. Small nations could pay a minor sum to county cricket in return for getting say a minimum 20-30 players in the competition.
Everyone wins. the different seasons means the smaller boards will not only make great savings while still having players in FC competition, they would also have their own season clear for more profitable cricket such as tests and domestic T20