CPLchiefwarnsagainstclashwithEnglishT20tournament

The Caribbean Premier League have warned the England and Wales Cricket Board their planned new Twenty20 tournament won’t succeed as hoped if it clashes with the existing competition in the West Indies.

Although the ECB’s eight-team city-based tournament will start in 2020, the exact dates have yet to be finalised.

But with the aim to attract new and younger audiences, there’s every chance it could clash with the ‘school holiday’ August-September timeframe in which the Twenty20 CPL is currently played.

“We are a unique tournament,” said Hero CPL chief operating officer Pete Russell at the 2018 draft in London on Thursday. “We are played across so many countries.

“You are always going to come up against challenges. The English one is a good example.

“Yes, they might be bigger and bolder but, from a player pool perspective, I don’t think it’s going to be too much different.

“That’s the challenge the ECB have — if they clash with the CPL, which is likely, then how will they, as they say they want to, become the biggest T20 tournament in the world?” Premier League or Australia’s Big Bash.

They have far fewer teams, which leads to a shorter schedule and in turn means there’s a greater chance of top players being involved throughout, thereby generating greater broadcast and commercial revenues.

Significantly, the ECB plan to run the new event as an addition to the Blast rather than as its replacement.

“How stupid is that?,” wrote England great Geoffrey Boycott in his Daily Telegraph column on Wednesday.

“No country in the world has two T20 competitions,” the former Yorkshire opening batsman added.