Euro T20 Slam | |
Country: | Ireland, Netherlands and Scotland |
Cricket Format: | Twenty20 |
Participants: | 6 |
The Euro T20 Slam is a planned professional Twenty20 cricket league. The first edition of the tournament was initially scheduled to start in August 2019, with matches to be held in Ireland, Scotland and the Netherlands.[1] Its launch has been postponed on several occasions due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In March 2019, Cricket Scotland, Cricket Ireland and the Royal Dutch Cricket Association officially announced the Euro T20 Slam.[2] It was to start on 30 August and conclude on 22 September 2019 and feature 33 matches.[3] [4] The tournament was to have six city-based franchise teams, two each from Ireland, Scotland and the Netherlands.[5] [6] In April 2019, six cities were awarded a franchise: Belfast and Dublin in Ireland, Glasgow and Edinburgh in Scotland, and Amsterdam and Rotterdam in the Netherlands.[7] The team names and schedule were released on 30 April 2019.[8]
Shahid Afridi, Martin Guptill, Rashid Khan, Brendon McCullum, Eoin Morgan and Shane Watson were announced as the six icon players,[9] and Babar Azam, JP Duminy, Chris Lynn, Luke Ronchi, Dale Steyn and Imran Tahir were announced as the six marquee players.[10] [11] [12] [13]
In June 2020, the tournament's organisers were looking to start the tournament on 20 August 2020, with all the matches played in Malahide, Ireland, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[14] However, the following month, the organisers confirmed that the event would be launched in 2021, because of the pandemic.[15] In June 2021, it was announced that the league would be further delayed as the planned dates in 2021 clashed with the restart of the rescheduled IPL 2021.[16]
In March 2023, Cricket Ireland announced that the tournament would be further delayed although they were aiming to begin in 2024.[17]
The teams due to participate in the first season were:[18]
Team | Home ground | Coach | Captain | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Amsterdam Knights | Chris Lynn | |||
Belfast Titans | ||||
Dublin Chiefs | Malahide Cricket Club Ground | Eoin Morgan | ||
Edinburgh Rocks | Martin Guptill | |||
Glasgow Giants | The Grange Club | Imran Tahir | ||
Rotterdam Rhinos | VRA Cricket Ground | Babar Azam |