LONDON: The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is keen on bringing in a 10-over tournament for the revival of English domestic cricket, ESPNcricinfo reports.
It has emerged that in March, a delegation of ECB’s top-ranking officials led by CEO Tom Harrison held discussions about the same with the founder of UAE’s T10 League, Shaji Ul Mulk.
It is likely that England would introduce this format in a similar manner as the Rugby Sevens with the aim that it should not disrupt the sanctity of the game nor crowd the domestic calendar further considering that there are already three competitions in place throughout the summer.
There have been reports in UK newspapers about the ECB planning to introduce a T20 competition from 2020 which would involve 20 5-ball overs rather than their original plan of ‘The Hundred’, which was scrapped due to the disapproval of the Professional Cricketers’ Association.
However, T-10 could well be an ideal replacement after the success of the shortest format in the UAE in 2017. Played for the first time last year, Kerala Kings won the competition in a star-studded 4-day tournament featuring the likes of Virender Sehwag and Shahid Afridi. England’s ODI and T20 captain Eoin Morgan and batsman Alex Hales had also received NOCs from the ECB to play in the competition.
Reportedly, this year’s tournament will be played across 10 days with the number of teams being expanded from 6 to 8.
