Twenty20 Champions League
Twenty20 Champions League 2008
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The 2008 Twenty20 Champions League is the first edition of the international club cricket tournament. It is due to be held in India or the Middle East in October 2008. The winners will earn around $5m. The tournament is expected to last ten days and consist of fifteen matches.
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Twenty20 Champions League Cricket News 2008
BCCI approves Champions Twenty20
June 22, 2008
After the huge success of the Indian Premier League, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Sunday approved another money-spinner, the Champions Twenty20 tournament, with a clause to debar English counties having players aligned to the Indian Cricket League (ICL).
The BCCI Working Committee, which met here, approved the proposal to jointly organise the tournament with Australia, South Africa and Pakistan in late September and early October. Clubs from England, which qualify, can play provided the teams do not include players who are with the ICL, Board Secretary Niranjan Shah said in a statement.
Only the England and Wales Cricket Board has allowed players aligning with the ICL to play for the counties. But the BCCI vice-president and IPL commissioner Lalit Modi said BCCI would stay away from any tournament involving ICL players.
“The rules and structure of the tournament will be framed by Cricket Australia while BCCI, which will be 50 per cent partner in the venture, will run and manage it,” Mr. Modi said. Mr. Modi said the ECB had stated it could not restrict ICL players in its counties. But the BCCI would stick to its stand.
On whether there was a chance that the ECB might not participate in the event at all because of this issue, Mr. Modi said, “That is for the ECB to decide. If that is the case, it will be very sad.”
Mr. Modi, however, expected that a solution would be reached at the meeting of the organising boards to be held in Dubai next week.
The Champions Twenty20 will be held in the first year in India. Form the second edition onwards attempts would be made to hold it in the Middle East, Australia, South Africa and England.
The tournament, featuring the top two Twenty20 sides of the participating countries, will have a total prize money of $10 million, with winner getting $5 million and the runner-up $2.5 million.
On accommodating the Twenty20 tournament in the packed schedule and its impact on the players before important assignments, Mr. Modi said the tournament, of only nine or 10 days duration, would not impact national teams. It would impact only one or two national squad players of each country.
Mr. Modi denied that the proposed Stanford competition involving England players would affect the BCCI-backed Twenty20 venture. “It’s good for the game. It is only adding to the pie. There is no conflict (of interests),” he said.
The BCCI Working Committee also discussed the proposed ICC World Test Championship, but Mr. Modi said the Board would have a detailed discussion about it later.
Meanwhile, BCCI vice-president Rajiv Shukla said the Board had sanctioned $50,000 for the improvement of the game in China.
The committee also reviewed the conduct of the IPL and approved the schedule of women’s team’s tours of England and Australia.
Pakistan also a part of Champions League
June 12, 2008
Nasim Ashraf, the Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Thursday claimed that one team from Pakistan would also be seen in action at the $5 million Champions League, slated to be held later this year.
The Indian Premier League (IPL) management and the English cricket Board have announced that the Champions League would be held around September with the domestic Twenty20 champions from India, South Africa, Australia and England taking part.
There was no mention of any Pakistani team participating in it but Ashraf told reporters that the domestic T20 champions would play in the event.
"It is not correct that Pakistan is not in the Champions League. When the idea of this event was discussed in Mumbai sometime back I was there and the Indian Board, specifically the IPL governing body invited Pakistan to send one team for the championship," Ashraf said.
Pakistan was one of the main supporters of the IPL when it was launched last year with the support of Australia, England and South Africa.
Sources within the Board also confirmed that senior officials were in touch with the IPL officials to find out the status of Pakistan in the Champions League.
"The PCB officials were not very happy when they saw the announcement conveniently ignoring Pakistan's contribution or participation, specially since the Board was one of the big supporters of the IPL and did its best to discourage the rebel Indian Cricket League," one source said.
Sources said Ashraf was due to take up the issue with BCCI officials when he visits Dhaka on Saturday to witness the final of the tri-series between India and Pakistan.
Australia keep best players out of Twenty20
June 10, 2008
Australia's international representatives will have to miss the inaugural Twenty20 Champions League later this year due to touring commitments.
The 15-match competition, which involves eight teams from England, India, South Africa and Australia, will be held during a 10-day period in late September and early October in the Middle East or India. The four countries will be represented by the winner and runner-up of their domestic Twenty20 competition.
The prize money will be in excess of $5 million.
Cricket Australia (CA) chief executive James Sutherland stated that the country's leading players were committed to the Champions Trophy in Pakistan and a Test tour of India.
IPL wants grand finale at Lords
Apr 21, 2008
Officials of the Indian Premier League (IPL) have offered to stage the grand finale of the multimillion-dollar championship this September at Lord's, the Mecca of cricket, according to a report on Monday.
The week-long finale would feature the top two teams from the IPL and the leading sides from the domestic Twenty20 leagues in England, Australia, South Africa and Pakistan, the Daily Telegraph reported.
The report, written by ex-England cricketer Simon Hughes, said Dubai had been earmarked for the event, but the ground was unlikely to be ready in time.
However, there are said to be scheduling difficulties for such a grand event to be staged at Lord's.
The paper said it would be hard to find a whole week in September to stage the finale. While the ideal time would be straight after England's final one-day international against South Africa Sep 3, the ICC championship in Pakistan begins just a week later.
There is a free period in October, but England has never hosted a top-class tournament so late in the year.
However, the paper said the finale could still happen because whittling the teams down to one winner could be achieved in five days in the Twenty20 format.
It said the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) would prefer to wait and see the Indian public and business community's response to the IPL before they take the discussions further.
England fast bowler Matthew Hoggard recently said he had little doubt that England players would opt for the IPL if asked to choose between the Indian league and the ICC Champions Trophy.
Simon Hughes described the ICC championship as representing "one of world sport's most pointless and derided events".
BCCI launches Twenty20 league
Sep 13, 2007
The Board of Control for Cricket in India on Thursday (September 13), unveiled its ambitious plans for its Twenty20 league – Indian Premier League – at an event in Delhi to rival the Indian Cricket League (ICL).
The event was attended by representatives of national cricketing bodies of all Test-playing nations as well as some of the top cricketers in the world, namely Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, Glen McGrath, Stephen Fleming, and Anil Kumble – all recruits of the IPL.
IS Bindra, Chirayu Amin, Arun Jaitley, Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, Ravi Shastri, Sunil Gavaskar, Rajiv Shukla and Lalit Modi were named as members of the BCCI Indian Premier League Committee with Lalit Modi assuming the role of the chairman of the 7-member Governing Council which will run the league. ICC President Ray Mali also fully supported the BCCI's initiative to launch the league.
The Indian Premier League is scheduled to start in April 2008 and will last for 44 days involving 59 matches on a home-and-away basis
with all matches being played under flood lights. Besides the IPL, the Champions Twenty20 League will be played in the first week of October 2008. Eight domestic teams from four nations will participate in the Champions Twenty20 League. Apart from India, Australia, England, South Africa will participate in the league, which will kick off in October 2008.
Prize money for the Indian Premier League will be US $3 million, where as the champion team in the Champions Twenty20 league will get US $5 million. This is the highest ever prize money for a cricket event.
BCCI planning Twenty20 league
Aug 24, 2007
The Board of Control for Cricket in India is planning to organise a high-profile Twenty20 league of its own to counter the challenge posed by the 'unofficial' Indian Cricket League.
The plan is still at a formative stage and it is learnt that the legendary Sunil Gavaskar will be asked to head the organising committee of the event, to be called "Professional Cricket League".
"We have been working on something for sometime now, but we are not yet ready to announce anything right now. When we are ready we will let you know," BCCI vice-president and marketing committee chief Lalit Modi said on Thursday.
The proposal was not discussed at the BCCI's special General Body in Mumbai on Tuesday.
"There has been no discussion on this in the BCCI," a top source in the board said.
Although BCCI officials were not willing to shed much light on the new proposal, it is learnt that two or three foreign players will be allowed to play in each team.
Jolted by the rebel ICL's massive recruitment drive, the BCCI has not only decided to ban defecting players but also announced substantial hikes in match fees and prize-money for domestic competition to prevent a fresh exodus.
The ICL, the brainchild of the Subhash Chandra-owned Essel Group, has so far recruited 44 first class players and seven from overseas, including West Indies batting great Brian Lara and former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul Haq.
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 The Indian Premier League, formed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in response to Zee's Indian Cricket League (ICL) is scheduled to start in April 2008 with 59 matches spread over 44 days on a home-and-away basis. Two matches will be scheduled each day under lights with play beginning at 5 p.m.
Prize money for the Indian Premier League will be US $3 million.
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