\n<\/p>\n
Former Australia captain Steve Waugh is among the franchise investors in a men’s European T20 tournament set to be played by city-based teams in Ireland, Scotland and the Netherlands later this year.<\/b><\/p>\n
The six-team European T20 Premier League (ETPL) was meant to launch in 2025, but the event was postponed because the sales of the participating franchises were not completed in time. <\/p>\n
However, deals have now been agreed for three of the franchises with two separate groups of investors from Australia and one from New Zealand.<\/p>\n
One of those is led by Waugh, who is heading up the Amsterdam Flames, which is backed by a consortium that includes former Australian field hockey player Jamie Dwyer and Australian businessman Tim Thomas.<\/p>\n
The Flames have already signed high-profile Australia internationals Steve Smith and Mitch Marsh as two of their overseas players.<\/p>\n
Waugh, 60, said he was “fascinated” by the opportunity to “take the global game of cricket to continental Europe”.<\/p>\n
“I’m not signing up to a Mickey Mouse T20 competition. This is the real deal,” Waugh told BBC Sport.<\/p>\n
“I wouldn’t be lending my name to it, or bringing my knowledge, if it wasn’t. The players we’ve spoken to are very keen to play in this league.”<\/p>\n
Bollywood actor and film producer Abhishek Bachchan is a part-owner of the ETPL in conjunction with Rules Sport Tech, a private Indian company. <\/p>\n
BBC Sport understands the franchises were sold for \u00a311.1m ($15m) over a 10-year period.<\/p>\n
Teams will have a total salary budget in the region of \u00a31.1m ($1.5m) per season, with the inaugural tournament set to start on 26 August.<\/p>\n
The league is being run in collaboration with the cricket boards of Ireland, Scotland and the Netherlands.<\/p>\n
It has been sanctioned by the International Cricket Council, who see it as a useful base for the broader development of cricket in Europe.<\/p>\n
Bachchan said that, with “the quality of players signing on,” everything about the tournament “will be world class”.<\/p>\n
“We are all primed and ready to go but the true hard work starts now,” Bachchan added.<\/p>\n
“We are very confident of the stakeholders we have on board and expect the ETPL will establish itself in the global ecosystem of franchise tournaments.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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