Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) which is likely to host the Indian Premier League’s 2020 (IPL 2020) edition has announced its own T10 League. The new, highly-anticipated six-team domestic tournament will see UAE’s top four domestic club-teams as well as two ‘Emirates Blues’ teams (formed by Emirates Cricket), comprising of a mix of junior and senior players, compete in a 34-match tournament. The inaugural series is scheduled to take place in Dubai from Friday July 24th through to Friday August 7th 2020.
The league is announced in partnership with ITW Consulting & will be called Emirates Domestic ‘D10’ tournament.
Khalid Al Zarooni, Vice Chairman Emirates Cricket Board, said: “We are very pleased to announce this important milestone in the development of our sport. It has always been a vision of the (Emirates Cricket) Board to develop and add an annual top-tier domestic tournament to the UAE calendar. Emirates Cricket is acutely aware of the talent that is being developed at various grounds and through various games being played across the UAE, and, we are cognisant of tapping into these teams with the goal of strengthening the depth and sustainability of UAE Cricket’s National teams across age-groups, women’s and men’s sides well into the future.”
“The 10-over format is an extremely intense and a growing short-format of the game. This tournament has been designed to expose our players to a structured competition on world-class pitches with their performance being overseen by cricket veterans and administrators. We also expect this format to assist in developing each player’s skill-set, encourage team cohesiveness and provide us with a platform to identify and select future talent.” commented Dr. Tayeb Kamali, Selection Committee Chairman, Emirates Cricket.
Mubashshir Usmani, Secretary General Emirates Cricket said: “The addition of the UAE Domestic D10 bolsters Emirates Cricket’s current portfolio of successful stand-alone 20-over and 50-over tournaments. We are very pleased with the support we have received from the Councils, and thank them for their ongoing support to the success and viability of the D10 tournament, one we aim to have as a permanent fixture in our calendar.“ “We will be following all safety protocols, as stipulated by the health authorities, and as all matches will be played behind closed doors we encourage all cricket-loving fans to take advantage of the matches being streamed live.” added Usmani.
The ECB is still to officially hear on whether it will play host to this year’s Indian Premier League (IPL), but a top ECB official told Gulf News the governing body for the sport in the UAE are “on our toes” and have pledged “full support to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) if they consider hosting the IPL in the UAE”.
John Stephenson
john@cricketinvestor.co.uk
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