The Thursday Read: Scotland's wait for white-ball franchise cricket set to continue
Graeme Macpherson takes a closer look at plans (or lack thereof) to launch the European T20 Premier League in just over two months' time
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European T20 Premier League (ETPL), backed by Bollywood megastar Abhishek Bachchan, is supposed to run from July 15th to August 3rd.
Two franchise teams each from Ireland, Netherlands and Scotland consisting of big names from the global franchise circuit sprinkled with talent from each of the competing nations to compete in tournament.
But it has all gone very quiet, prompting concern that it may be postponed or shelved altogether.
THE rocky relationship between Scottish cricket and white-ball franchise tournaments is starting to feel like one that is never going to be consummated.
T20 and T10 events have dominated the global calendar for years now, with the lucrative and hugely popular Indian Premier League (IPL) the undoubted standard-bearer in this particular market.
Repeated attempts to bring a flavour of that glamour and glitz to European cricket, however, continue to flounder.
Back in 2019 there was the much-vaunted Euro Slam featuring six teams from Scotland, the Netherlands and Ireland. That one got as far as naming the franchises – the Glasgow Giants and Edinburgh Rocks were the Scottish representatives – and recruiting players of the calibre of Eoin Morgan, Brendon McCullum, Shahid Afridi and Shane Watson.
Read more from The Inside Edge:
Introducing: The Inside Edge
The Monday Wrap: a busy weekend of domestic and international action
The Thursday Read: Richie Berrington interview
The event ran into problems late on, however, and was delayed a year by which point the Covid pandemic ended any prospect of it ever being revived. It all went quiet on this front until last year when a firm called Star 333 Sports looked to launch a “Scottish Super 10” tournament in Aberdeen, only for that one to again fail to get off the ground.
Now we have the European T20 Premier League (ETPL), another Indian-financed and led project that has the official backing of the International Cricket Council (ICC) as well as Bollywood megastar Abhishek Bachchan, one of the co-owners who publicised his involvement in a recent high-profile St Patrick’s Day tour around Dublin.
The venture also has the backing of Cricket Scotland and their Dutch counterparts (KNCB) but this is primarily a joint venture between Cricket Ireland and Rules Sport Tech Private Ltd, an Indian-based firm established in 2023 by a trio of executives from disparate corporate backgrounds named Saurav Banerjee, Priyanka Kaul and Dhiraj Malhotra.
Their plan isn’t too dissimilar to the proposed Euro Slam idea, with six men’s teams, two from each of the countries involved, comprising the best of the big names from the global franchise circuit sprinkled with a crop of talent from each of the competing nations. Matches were slated to take place in Dublin and Rotterdam with Brexit red tape proving to be a stumbling block for hosting games in Scotland this time around.
The organisers chose a specific timeframe for the tournament – July 15th to August 3rd – on the grounds that it wouldn’t clash with any of the other major T20 competitions including the IPL or The Hundred. Falling just after their T20 World Cup qualifier in the Netherlands, it looked like the perfect opportunity for Scotland’s men to enhance their reputations as part of a high-profile tournament while also pocketing a few quid for their efforts.
And yet, approaching two months out from the proposed start date, it has all gone very quiet again, with barely a peep heard in the seven weeks since Bachchan was striding the streets of Dublin with the great and good of Irish cricket.
There has been no formal ETPL launch, no date set for a player auction, no chat about ticket sales or even an announcement of the team names. And, not for the first time, the hold-up comes down to money and cricket’s natural pecking order.
As a privately-owned tournament, each of the six franchises need to be sold at a cost that the Irish cricket site, The Part-Timer, estimates to be $3 million a year for each of the proposed 10 years of this project.
The bidders are expected to be primarily owners of IPL teams but sales of some of The Hundred franchises, England’s white-ball extravaganza that gets going in early August, are yet to be concluded which is having a knock-on effect when it comes to landing suitors willing to pay the $30million to take ownership of an ETPL team.
It is understood that negotiations are yet to be concluded for any of the ETPL franchises but that one is close to getting over the line which, it is hoped, would then prompt two others to also show their hands and complete a deal.
But given all the ongoing uncertainty and with the suggested start date racing into view, it now looks almost certain that this opening edition of the ETPL will need to be postponed.
September has been mentioned as a possible alternative but that would bring its own problems with both the Scottish and Irish men’s teams already having international fixtures in that same slot. More realistically, it looks like the ETPL will instead look to rearrange for the summer of 2026, giving them more time to sell the franchises and put together a more cohesive working strategy, although placing themselves just before The Hundred once again could yet yield similar issues.
From a Scottish perspective the delay will be a blow to the earning potential of those players who would likely have been involved, while Cricket Scotland will lose out on their share of the potential commercial revenue streams.
The governing body has chosen to keep their powder dry publicly over this whole thing – there isn’t a word of it anywhere on the Cricket Scotland website – while Rules Sport Tech have yet to respond to requests for comment.
It is understood, however, from sources close to the tournament, that clarity over the ETPL’s future is expected one way or another over the next fortnight. A postponement looks likely and nobody will be shocked if that turns out to be the case. It has been ever thus.
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Extras:
Scotland Men back in action
The men are back in action today [Thursday 8th June at 10am BST] in the second game of this Cricket World Cup League 2 series in the Netherlands. Scotland defeated the United Arab Emirates by three wickets on Sunday and face the same opposition this morning in Amstelveen before taking on the hosts on Saturday. The series rounds off next week with a further match apiece against both countries. Watch the action live on the ICC website.
Status quo for Scotland’s Men in global list
The ICC have published the latest edition of their men’s world rankings. And there’s no movement for Scotland who remain 12th in the ODI list. Doug Watson’s side are also unmoved in the T20I charts at 13th in the world, the highest-ranked ICC Associate member nation. The latest rankings rate all matches played since May 2024 at 100 percent and those of the previous two years at 50 percent.
Kathryn Bryce shortlisted for ICC award
Scotland captain Kathryn Bryce has been nominated for the ICC’s Player of the Month award following her efforts at the recent World Cup qualifier. The all-rounder made a total of 293 runs across five games at an average of 73.25, which included 91 against hosts Pakistan, 60 against Thailand and 131 not out against Ireland. Bryce also contributed with the ball, taking six wickets on her way to being named Player of the Series. Scotland fans can vote for her at icc-cricket.com/awards with the winner announced next week.
Lord's to host Women's T20 World Cup Final
The home of cricket will host the final of next year's women's T20 World Cup set to take place across England between June 12th and July 5th. The expanded tournament – up from 10 teams to 12 – will also feature matches at Old Trafford, Headingley, Edgebaston, Hampshire Bowl, The Oval and Bristol.
Scotland will look to book a second consecutive T20 World Cup appearance at the global qualifier scheduled for early next year. 10 nations will compete at that tournament – exact dates and venue still TBC – with four places at the World Cup up for grabs.
Just what the doctor ordered
Sunday’s WPL opener between West of Scotland and Carlton had to be abandoned after West’s Imogen Fox unfortunately dislocated her knee fielding on the famous Carlton hill. An ambulance eventually appeared and drove onto the field to tend to her but her suffering in the meanwhile was eased by the actions of spectator, Anish Amin. An orthopaedic surgeon as well as a Carlton 3rd XI stalwart, Mr Amin was able to pop the knee back into place before the ambulance arrived.
Men’s Scottish Cup gets going
Round one of the Men’s Scottish Cup is this Sunday with reigning champions Heriot’s starting their title defence by hosting Ferry Road rivals Stewart’s Melville at Goldenacre. Gary Heatly will provide a round-up of the action in our Monday Wrap.
Thanks for reading The Inside Edge’s Thursday Wrap for 8th May.
If you have a news story, club update or any other interesting snippet related to any aspect of Scottish cricket which you think The Inside Edge should be reporting on, then please do get in touch. Email: david@tiecricket.com.
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