The winners and runners-up in England’s domestic Twenty20 competition will join their equivalents from Australia, India and South Africa later this year in a lucrative new tournament worth US$5 million to the winners, it was announced on Saturday.
A statement issued by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) said the inaugural Champions League would involve eight teams playing 15 matches in a 10-day period in late September and early October in either the Middle East or India.
The ECB statement added there would also be “significant sums for the teams finishing second, third and fourth.”
New Zealand’s Brendon McCullum, who appeared recently in a similar, albeit domestic, Twenty20 event in India, welcomed the new competition.
“It sounds a pretty good idea to me. As long as you get the best players out there in competitive environment, I’m sure it will be a success,” he said after stumps on the third day of the third Test against England at Trent Bridge. “It will be great to have the Champions League like football does, with that kind of following.”
England fast bowler Stuart Broad, who plays at Trent Bridge for Nottinghamshire, said the tournament could change the face of county cricket: “It’s certainly an incentive for domestic sides to take Twenty20 seriously which can only help the international team. I’ve always thought Championship cricket is the priority because it develops players for Test cricket and that’s the ultimate. But this could change the emphasis.”
The sums of money on offer are huge compared to the figures normally involved in county, state or provincial cricket which, unlike football, mainly takes place around the world in the shadow of the international game. For example, most of England’s 18 first-class counties make a loss and rely on an annual ECB grant of some £1.4 million (US$2.8 million) to remain afloat.
Talks regarding the Champions League were held last week between ECB chairman Giles Clarke and chief executive David Collier and their Australian counterparts Creagh O’Connor and James Sutherland.
The plans were finalized on Friday following discussions between Clarke, Board of Control for Cricket in India representative Lalit Modi and Norman Arendse, the president of Cricket South Africa.
The winners and runners-up in the final of England’s Twenty20 Cup at Hampshire’s Rose Bowl ground on July 20 will join Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings from India, South Africa’s Titans and KwaZulu Natal Dolphins and Western Australia and Victoria from Australia in the Champions League. But with both finalists going through to the Champions League, the Twenty20 Cup semi-finals are now of arguably greater significance financially.
“We are extremely grateful to our great friends from Australia, India and South Africa for their hard work and determination to get this tournament off the ground,” Clarke said.
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