From Newsgroup: uk.sport.cricket
I hope this European T20 league makes cricket widely played there since
T20 will be over in 3.5 hours.
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https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/steven-smith-mitchell-marsh-to-appear-in-a-new-europe-based-t20-league-waugh-maxwell-among-owners-1520318
Smith, Marsh to appear in a new Europe-based T20 league; Waugh, Maxwell
among owners
The six-team European T20 Premier League (ETPL) will run out of Ireland, Scotland and the Netherlands
Nagraj Gollapudi
Steven Smith and Mitchell Marsh are among the stars set to appear in a
new Europe-based T20 league co-owned by Bollywood star Abhishek Bachchan
and which features franchises owned by Australian legend Steve Waugh and
Glenn Maxwell. On Wednesday, Waugh and Maxwell were revealed as owners
of the European T20 Premier League (ETPL), which will run out of
Ireland, Scotland and Netherlands.
Former New Zealand players Kyle Mills and Nathan McCullum are owners of another franchise, with another three teams yet to be sold in the league
which was originally meant to launch last summer. The three franchises
already sold are based in Amsterdam, Belfast and Edinburgh while the
three remaining ones, once sold, will be based in Dublin, Rotterdam, and Glasgow.
Waugh, for whom this marks a first serious involvement in the game since
his retirement over 20 years ago, is part of a consortium of investors
who will own Amsterdam Flames, a group that includes former Australia
field hockey great Jamie Dwyer. Maxwell will co-own the Irish Wolves
along with Rohan Lund, former Group Chief Executive Officer of NRMA, an Australia-based insurance company. McCullum and Mills have bought the Edinburgh franchise.
The league has been a long time coming, given the Euro Slam T20 -
involving the same three boards - was due to launch in 2019 but never
took off. The ETPL is a joint venture between Cricket Ireland and the India-based Rules Global (Rules X), and strategic partnerships with
Cricket Scotland and KNCB (Netherlands cricket board). Bachchan is a co-founder, along with three other Indian investors including Dhiraj
Malhotra, former CEO of IPL's Delhi Capitals.
The inaugural season of the ETPL, the first league sanctioned by ICC to
be based across multiple countries, is scheduled between August 26 and September 20. On current schedules, that means it starts 10 days after
the Hundred final, but is likely to clash with the CPL, the dates of
which are yet to be announced but is likely to be played in the August-September window.
According to Waugh, Smith and Marsh - who is Australia's T20 captain -
and Netherlands captain Scott Edwards are among players signed up with Amsterdam Flames. Waugh confirmed Flames were also in "positive"
discussions with Tim David.
"We've approached a number of players and haven't had one negative
comment at all," Waugh told ESPNcricinfo. "They're just so fascinated by
it. I think because I haven't been involved too much in cricket, they
must think, well, this is a serious project. And they know what I stand
for: the values and teamwork and working together and being successful. They're fascinated by the fact that it's going to be in Europe.
"And the potential to expand cricket into almost a new market and to
have an impact on the players in Europe and the continental players, to
make them better. As a player, you want to make the players around you
better and as you get older, you realise that's really important. It's
not so much about yourself, but it's the impact you have on people
around you. And the players we're talking about, Steve Smith and Mitch
Marsh, they're at the stage of their career where they want to help
develop other players."
Waugh, a two-time World Cup winner who retired just as T20 cricket
began, has never played or coached in the format. What prompted him to
invest in ETPL? "This opportunity came up about three or four months
ago. I love the fact that it's almost that underdog spirit against the
odds, achieving something that people don't think is possible - being
involved in a European T20 competition is something I never thought I'd
be involved in.
"The opportunity for those continental players to play alongside the
world's best cricketers for four or five weeks at a time is going to fast-track their progress. There's three sides from Europe in the T20
World Cup coming up. There's opportunities for those sides going forward
to be at the Olympics. So this is a massive opportunity for European
cricket.
"We want this to be a meaningful competition. It's not just a token
gesture to support European cricket. This aims to be one of the best
leagues in the world. It's not the best T20 competition in the world. I
mean, that's lofty ambitions, but you got to set your standards high."
Bachchan, who is co-founder of ETPL, agreed with Waugh but said he was "realistic" about the league's ambitions. This is Bachchan's first
involvement in overseas sports franchises, having been a co-owner of
teams in the Indian Super League for football (Chennaiyin FC), Pro
Kabaddi League (Jaipur Pink Panthers) and Indian Street Premier League
(Majhi Mumbai).
Bachchan said that the ETPL was on the verge of signing an Indian
broadcaster soon. He was non-committal about whether any IPL franchises
had expressed an interest in buying a franchise here.
The inaugural season will be played in Ireland and the Netherlands, with
the final set of venues still to be finalised.
"That's part of the reason of why you want to be in Europe as well,
because you want to help develop and build these kind of
infrastructures," Bachchan told ESPNcricinfo. "So the tournament for
this year is going to be played in two centres in Dublin and in the Netherlands, which already have wonderful pitches.
"We will be constructing stands, modified to what we think will maximise
the experience of going to a T20 match and build it from there. It's
good to have lofty ambitions, but you also have to be realistic. You
have to build it brick by brick, and that's exactly the approach we
have. Having worked in sports for so long, and I think Mr Waugh will
endorse this, at the end of the day, it's the people at the ground that
are there cheering you and experiencing it that are going to come back
and keep following the sport."
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