Counties Miss Out On Champions League
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has been left disgruntled as English counties are set to miss out on the 2010 Champions League Twenty20 after it was announced that the tournament will be staged between 10th and 26th September.
The dates clash with two County Championship rounds as well as the semi-finals and final of the new ECB 40 League. England will also play a one-day series against Pakistan from 10th – 22nd September.
The Champions League dates were decided on at a meeting of the league’s governing council this week.
Last year’s tournament, the first ever, had 12 teams participating – three from India, two each from England (Somerset Sabres and Sussex Sharks), Australia and South Africa and one from New Zealand, West Indies and Sri Lanka, with New South Wales ending up winners.
The venue for this year’s tournament has not yet been announced, though there is speculation that the tournament will be held outside India – as was the second season of the IPL, in South Africa.
However, the schedule for this year effectively means the two English counties, who qualify by playing in the final of the domestic Twenty20 Cup, will be unable to take part.
