Three nations plan joint IPL spin-off

Australia, New Zealand and South Africa have confirmed they are planning a multi-nation franchise-owned Twenty20 tournament based on the IPL, which they hope to launch by 2011. Although the competition is still in the planning stages, the idea is to have city-based teams and schedule it at a time that would allow Indian stars to take part.

The concept will involve two separate conferences - an eastern division based in Africa and a western division in Australasia - and the top sides from each will progress to the finals. It will not replace the existing domestic Twenty20 competitions; instead it is most likely to be held in October with each nation free to also retain their state- or provincial-based tournaments.

The organisers want the competition to feed teams into the Champions League Twenty20. The southern hemisphere-based tournament, which as yet has no name, is another indication of the growing dominance of Twenty20.

The first season of the IPL was massively popular this year in India, where there is also the unsanctioned ICL competition, while England will soon be playing for US$20 million in the Stanford Super Series. Peter Young, Cricket Australia's spokesman, conceded it will be a challenge to squeeze the new tournament in but the organisers were confident it could be achieved.

"It'll be short, sharp and very focused but the exact number of games is yet to be determined,"

Young said.

"Strategically we see that there's a finite amount of Twenty20 cricket that's likely to be ideal, with a number of major global blocks."

There is still a way to go before the finer details can be finalised, including the number of teams. There is also potential for the African conference to feature sides not based in South Africa and for the Australasian division to have teams from outside Australia and New Zealand. Domestic players are likely to feature heavily but the three boards are keen to ensure international stars, from India or England, for example, take part.

"Gathering a large number of the world's marquee players into a single competition over a compressed time-frame can capture the public imagination and create new audiences for cricket,"

Justin Vaughan, New Zealand Cricket's chief executive, said.

"The challenge for the three southern-hemisphere boards is to create the stage for that opportunity to be captured in a way which complements international cricket."

Cricket Australia has been considering a franchise-based Twenty20 system for some time. James Sutherland, the chief executive of Cricket Australia, said it had become clear that to reach a critical mass, a regional approach was needed.

"The idea developed out of blue-sky Twenty20 thinking over the past 18 months,"

Sutherland said. "Regional-level Twenty20 cricket played at the level immediately below international cricket has shown it can capture the public imagination and create new audiences for cricket.

"But as we have seen in India, it needs critical mass to generate major public excitement. The regional concept we have been charged with developing provides that critical mass."

Cricket Australia is also keen to increase the international focus of its state-based Twenty20 tournament. From 2009-10 it will encourage the six state teams to recruit star players from overseas.

Canada v Zimbabwe, T20 Canada, King City

Zimbabwe 135 for 9 (Taibu 37, Baidwan 3-27) tied with

Canada 135 for 7 and won bowl-out 3-1

Zimbabwe earned a win they barely deserved, claiming a 3-1 victory in a bowl-out, after scrambling to a tie against Canada as the second day of T20 Canada tournament at King City produced a thrilling game. Zimbabwe, who slumped to 61 for 5 in the 11th over, recovered through a stand of 53 between Tatenda Taibu and Elton Chigumbura, but still needed 10 off the last over. Harvir Baidwan took two wickets in two balls, but Prosper Utseya and Tawanda Mupariwa squeezed nine off the next four balls, with Utseya run out off the final delivery trying to win the match.

Under the regulations, Twenty20 matches can't be tied in tournaments so it was time for cricket's version of a penalty shoot-out. Baidwan, so nearly the match-winner, missed with his effort and so too did Sunil Dhaniram. Abdool Samad then overstepped with his delivery after Zimbabwe's bowlers hit the stumps three times. The visitors could breathe a sigh of relief, but they hardly deserved their escape route

Twenty20 again proved how it levels the playing field between teams, but Canada didn't quite have the experience or skill to hold on at the end. A few misfields came into their game and occasionally bowlers lost their nerve, but to force their way into a position where they could even contemplate victory should be a huge boost to their confidence. It also shows, once again, how far Zimbabwe have sunk. In truth they are barely the standard of a mid-ranking Associate.

Defending 135, Canada made regular inroads with local hero, Rizwan Cheema, claiming two wickets in his first over to put then on their way. Baidwan almost succeeded in the final over, but was let down by some sloppy fielding after removing Timycen Maruma and Taibu to catches at long-on. However, a crucial mistake off the penultimate ball gave Utseya a boundary and he gained one off the final ball.

After the disappointing attendances on the opening day the ground was around half full as 5000 fans, mostly waiting for the second match involving Sri Lanka and Pakistan, made their way down on a chilly autumnal morning. By the time Canada were taking out Zimbabwe's middle order there was plenty of cheering and flag-waving to keep them warm and, although the result they wanted slipped away, performances like this are what Canadian cricket needs.

In the end, though, Zimbabwe had just enough thanks to two of their more successful players. Chigumbura and Taibu hauled Zimbabwe from the brink of an embarrassing defeat by adding 53 in 5.5 overs; when Chigumbura came in his team were 61 for 5 with the game slipping away.

Cheema, to the delight of the local supporters, claimed a double-wicket maiden in his first over as Hamilton Masakadza chipped to midwicket and Chamu Chibhabha was brilliantly caught by Baidwan, who then struck with the ball to trap Stuart Matsikenyeri lbw. However, as Chigumbura and Taibu steadied the innings Zimbabwe appeared to be back in control only for Henry Osinde to remove Chigumbura.

It was down to Taibu, and when he fell to the second ball of the final the game was Canada's for the taking. But in such a tight match one slip can make the difference, and so it proved.

Canada battled impressively throughout and reached 135, a total that is proving to be about par in late-season conditions. Cheema livened the crowd going by slamming 23 off 11 balls with two sixes, one over long-on and the other over deep midwicket. As quickly as Cheema got going, though, he was gone when he edged Chigumbura. Zimbabwe clawed back the run rate when Samad was run out towards the end of the fielding restrictions.

Canada were scoring at 10 an over, but it quickly sank against the spinners with Ray Price conceding three runs off his first three overs. He also bowled Mohammad Iqbal with an arm ball and when Dhaniram was run out, Canada were floundering on 78 for 6.

However they didn't give in, far from it. Karun Jethi and Balaji Rao hit useful twenties towards the end - Rao twice managing to clear the boundary - and it was enough to give Zimbabwe a huge scare. It was the type of match the tournament needed.

High Court ruling leaves world's richest match in doubt

Plans to stage the world's richest cricket match in Antigua next month were thrown into disarray on Tuesday when the West Indies Cricket Board lost a dispute with sponsors Digicel in London's High Court.

As a result of the defeat, the WICB was been told it will have to withdraw its sanction for the 20-million-dollar Twenty/20 match between the Stanford Superstars XI and England on November 1.

That could mean that either the match will have to be called off or that the Stanford Superstars side will be weakened by the withdrawal of most of the leading West Indian players.

The WICB had previously agreed to make all their players available to play for Texan billionaire Allen Stanford's select side.

But Digicel went to the High Court in a bid to establish that, as the contracted official sponsor of the WICB until 2012, it enjoyed commercial rights associated with a game that was, in effect, a West Indies XI v England.

The High Court upheld that argument and ruled that the Board would be in breach of its contract with Digicel if it sanctioned the match without granting commercial rights to its sponsor. The WICB was also ordered to pay costs.

WICB chief executive Dr Donald Peters confirmed the court defeat.

"We understand the arbitrator has ruled against the West Indies Cricket Board and at this point we are trying to evaluate what the terms of the ruling are before we make any statement,"

Peters told Britain's Press Association.

He added:

"As soon as my board has been informed there will be a statement."

The WICB and Digicel began arbitration proceedings under the auspices of the High Court last Friday but were unable to agree a negotiated resolution of the dispute.

In return for putting up the money for the match, Stanford 20/20 had wanted to find their own sponsors for the match, bypassing Digicel.

The fate of the match and several warm-up encounters involving Middlesex and Trinidad and Tobago, now depends on the outcome of negotiations between Digicel and Stanford over the next few days.

Sky Television, which is planning to broadcast the matches, said it was confident that a solution would be worked out to allow them to go ahead.

Jayawardene calls for single Twenty20 vision

Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene has said there should only be one major Twenty20 cricket event a year so as to preserve a balance with the Test game and ensure a fairer spread of the sport's riches.

Authorities in India, world cricket's financial powerhouse, were initially wary of the shortened format, which has proved popular with fans around the world after being pioneered professionally in the English county game.

But the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has since embraced Twenty20 with the creation of the Indian Premier League (IPL), a lucrative competition featuring the world's best players appearing for franchise teams.

Now there are plans to expand the IPL and, in the meantime, English cricket chiefs, alarmed about losing control over their own players, have signed up to a million dollars a man winner-takes-all Twenty20 clash in Antigua in November against a Caribbean 'Superstars' side put together by Texan-born billionaire Allen Stanford.

Next year will see the launch of the English Premier League (EPL) and Jayawardene, a nominee for the International Cricket Council's player of the year award, due to be presented in Dubai on Wednesday, said the feeding frenzy had to stop for the overall good of the global game.

Jayawardene was in no doubt about what should happen next. "The way forward would be to have one big T20 tournament, whether that's IPL, EPL or Stanford, and it will accommodate everyone's interests.

"The best players will play over a short period and the income generated can be shared,"

the 31-year-old veteran of 98 Tests and 283 one-day internationals explained.

"That way, you still have your ODIs and Tests, and the FTP (Future Tours Programme) functions properly."

Sri Lanka's senior players are currently in dispute with their board over next year's hastily arranged tour of England, brought about by England's decision to break off cricket relations with Zimbabwe.

Jayawardene said the row revolved around financial security for his side which, for all the exciting cricket it often plays, is not considered a big commercial draw by other nations.

"There's no compromise when it comes to playing for our country,"

said ayawardene.

"We put everything on the line but, regardless of how well we play against England or Australia, we'll still get paid what we get right now (about 2,500 pounds per Test and 1,500 pounds for a one-day game).

"But when we're given an opportunity like the IPL, it's a chance to play six weeks of cricket and make the sort of money that the rest of the world makes just by playing for their countries."

Sri Lanka, a small island nation plagued by civil war, have consistently punched above their weight in international cricket but Jayawardene said a lack of matches was restricting their progress in five-day Tests, still widely considered as the pinnacle of the sport.

"I think we have only 10 Tests in the next three years. Out of that, we're playing Bangladesh (Test cricket's weakest nation) home and away. So where's our opportunity to climb up the ladder?"

Stanford call seals Harmison comeback

Stephen Harmison's transformation from international exile to a key member of all England's cricket teams was confirmed when the fast bowler was included in the squad for the cash-rich clash with Allen Stanford's Superstars in Antigua in November.

As recently as last month the Durham quick, who'd announced his one-day international retirement before the 2007 World Cup, was out of the Test side after being dropped following a poor display in New Zealand earlier this year.

But he starred in the final Test against South Africa at The Oval, where Kevin Pietersen marked the start of his England captaincy with a victory against the land of his birth.

Pietersen then helped persuade Harmison to end his one-day isolation and the bowler responded by leading England's attack in a 4-0 thrashing of the Proteas.

Now the paceman has been included in the 15-man squad for arguably the most lucrative match in the history of cricket, with the winners of the Twenty20 contest at Stanford's own ground in Antigua guaranteed an eye-watering million dollars a man each.

Even the four players who don't make the final XI will, if England win, get to share a million dollars of the Texan-born billionaire's money between them as they become the best-paid drinks waiters in the business.

Ever since he reversed his one-day retirement Harmison, who is also in the squad for the seven one-dayers away to India later in November, has been acutely sensitive to the suggestion he was doing it just for the money.

"Steve Harmison did say he didn't want to play in Stanford early on,"

said England's national selector Geoff Miller after announcing the squad at Lord's here on Tuesday.

"He didn't want to be seen to be coming back into the side just for financial reasons - but we want him to be in it and his results this year in both kinds of cricket show it's the right decision.

"We said 'we'll pick this side on cricketing factors and not on monetary factors'. We took the decision out of his hands and made it for him."

The squad is made up of the unchanged XI which defeated South Africa 4-0 plus original squad members Alastair Cook, Ravi Bopara, Graeme Swann and Ryan Sidebottom, subject to the left-arm quick passing a fitness test.

In a separate announcement, former England captain Michael Vaughan was given a 12-month central contract despite the Yorkshire batsman's loss of form.

Vaughan, who led England to Ashes glory in 2005, resigned as Test captain after South Africa clinched their first Test series win in England since 1965 last month and was replaced as skipper by Pietersen.

Vaughan, who sat out the final match of the South Africa series, has struggled for runs this season. His last fifty, for Yorkshire, was followed by scores of two, nought, 21, nought and 17 against South Africa.

A break from cricket did not lead to an upturn in his fortunes when he came back, with the 31-year-old Vaughan, who hasn't featured in one-day internationals since England's lacklustre World Cup campaign in the Caribbean, managing just 10, nought and 19 in his next three innings for his county.

"The award of an England central contract to Michael Vaughan reflects the selectors' view that Michael still has a role to play in the England Test squad over the next 12 months,"

said Miller.

England are due to announce on September 29 their squad for a two Test tour of India in December.

India to go ahead with Twenty20 League as scheduled

India will host the inaugural Twenty20 Champions League between September 29 and October 8, defying the game's world chiefs who want the tournament to be rescheduled.

"The event will go ahead as scheduled,"

top Indian cricket board official Lalit Modi announced here Wednesday after a meeting with representatives from the Australian and South African boards.

"The three boards have reached an agreement to stage the inaugural Champions Twenty20 later this year,"

Modi said.

"This would mark the introduction of a long awaited football-style Champions League format for cricket, which will pit the best-of-the-best clubs in domestic cricket globally against each other."

The venues for the six-million dollar league, featuring eight Twenty20 domestic sides from around the world, would be decided later, Modi said.

The tournament is sandwiched in the short 11-day gap between the Champions Trophy final in Pakistan on September 28 and the first Test between Australia and India in Bangalore from October 9.

The announcement is likely to upset the International Cricket Council (ICC) which had reminded its member countries on Tuesday that holding a tournament within seven days of an ICC event violated a playing agreement.

Modi said two teams each from South Africa, Australia and India will feature in the tournament.

"The decision on the remaining two teams will be taken shortly,"

he said.

England were originally slated to take part in the event but announced Tuesday that it wanted to stage its own version of the league in the United Arab Emirates on the same dates.

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), which opposes the terms and conditions laid down by the Indians, claimed that the Abu Dhabi royal family had agreed to bankroll their tournament.

Local media reports on Tuesday said India had turned down England's offer to send two teams for their event in the Gulf -- and also does not expect English sides to feature in their own tournament.

In a letter to the ECB, the Indian board wrote it "wished the ECB all the best" with its tournament but "unfortunately, we cannot accept" the invitation, reports said.

Talks between the Indian board and the ECB failed to resolve the issues of tournament rights and the availability of players who took part in the unauthorised Indian Cricket League (ICL).

India, the sport's financial powerhouse, wanted to retain a 50 percent stake in the tournament and would not allow teams that fielded ICL players from taking part.

Kent, one of the two teams set to represent England in the Champions League, has two ICL players in Pakistan's Azhar Mahmood and Justin Kemp of South Africa.

Zimbabwe pull out of World Twenty20

Zimbabwe have agreed to pull out of next year's Twenty20 World Cup in England, clearing the roadblocks for the competition to be staged there, but will retain their status as Full Member of the ICC and receive funding as usual. They will also receive their full participation fee for the tournament.

"We have decided to pull out in the larger interests of the game,"

Peter Chingoka, the chairman of Zimbabwe Cricket, told Cricinfo.

"We have been informed that the British government may not grant visas to our players, and that situation may prevail during the Twenty20 World Cup. We don't want to be gatecrashers."

"It was a collective decision and I was a part of that decision,"

Sharad Pawar, the BCCI president, told Cricinfo.

"The full membership of Zimbabwe is currently not in doubt,"

ICC president David Morgan said.

"There was not even a discussion on the issue of Zimbabwe's membership. Everybody stands to benefit from the decision. Zimbabwe will be entitled to participation fees in the tournament like any other member. The ICC could not jeopardise the tournament."

The decision, Chingoka said, pertained only to the tournament in England.

"We are now looking forward to more tours and international cricket with our Asian friends, especially India."

The Zimbabwe issue had occupied a large part of the discussions during the ICC executive board meeting, which carried over to an unscheduled third day on Friday after a failure to reach a consensus.

Some countries, led by England and South Africa, had been pushing for Zimbabwe to be stripped of Full Member status but that move had been opposed by India.

Ray Mali, the former ICC president, has recommended the setting up of a sub-committee to "advise the ICC board on all matters relating to Zimbabwe cricket including its return to full participation in the international game. The specific terms of reference for the sub-committee will be finalised in due course." The sub-committee, if approved, will chaired by Julian Hunte, the head of the West Indies board, and include Arjuna Ranatunga and another official (who hasn't been confirmed).

Norman Arendse, the president of Cricket South Africa, was satisfied with the ICC's resolution on Zimbabwe.

"Cricket South Africa welcomes the ICC resolution on Zimbabwe as a step forward in the right direction,"

Arendse said.

"The Zimbabwe issue is difficult and complex, and was discussed at length. At least, the ICC decision extricates all Full Member countries from the potential problem of the Twenty20 tournament to be played in England in 2009.

"CSA's recently articulated position in relation to Zimbabwe Cricket will, however, remain as is, until the Zimbabwe situation is resolved to the satisfaction of all parties concerned."

ICC introduces women's T20 World Cup

International Cricket Council (ICC) on Tuesday introduced the women's edition of the Twenty20 World Cup alongside its men's version. It will be held in England next year.

Eight nations, including India, will participate in it. The other contenders are Australia, England, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka and the West Indies, who all will also compete in next year's ICC Women's Cricket World Cup in Australia, an ICC statement said.

The men's tournament, which will be staged at three venues -- Lord's, The Oval and Trent Bridge, will include a fourth venue, Taunton, for women.

Both the semi-finals, at Trent Bridge on June 18 and The Oval on June 19, and also the final at Lord's on June 21 will be double-headers with women's and men's matches.

West Indies v Australia, Twenty20 international, Barbados

West Indies 102 for 3 (Marshall 36) beat

Australia 97 for 3 (Ronchi 36, Roach 2-29) by seven wickets

A breathtaking display from Xavier Marshall, who hammered 36 from 15 balls, set up a seven-wicket victory for West Indies as they got home with 11 balls to spare. Marshall, playing his first Twenty20 international, overshadowed the strong efforts of a string of other debutants including Australia's openers Luke Ronchi and Shaun Marsh, as the Kensington Oval spectators got their money's worth despite the match being reduced to 11 overs a side.

After Ronchi and Marsh set up what looked like a challenging target of 98, Marshall provided the sort of batting heroics West Indies fans have been deprived of in recent years. Twenty-five came off the second over of the chase, from Mitchell Johnson, the highlight of which was a monstrous Marshall six over midwicket that hit the roof of the Greenidge and Haynes Stand.

He had help from the first-gamer William Perkins, who audaciously went down on one knee to paddle Brett Lee over the wicketkeeper's head for four, perhaps unaware of the bloodied chin Mal Loye once sustained trying to slog-sweep Lee. But Perkins could not keep up with Marshall, whose clean striking was up there with the most powerful one-day hitters.

The signs were there from the first ball of the innings, when Marshall pulled a short Lee ball over square leg for six. By the time he had cracked a couple of fours off Lee's second over West Indies, remarkably, needed 47 from 48 deliveries and it was their game to lose.

For a while it looked like they might do just that. Marshall could not bear to see a dot ball and was unnecessarily run out when Shane Watson collected off his own bowling and threw down the stumps at the striker's end, and Perkins was caught short in the next over. When Denesh Ramdin holed out to deep mid-off from Watson's bowling it left West Indies at 64 for 3 and gave Australia a glimmer of hope.

Those hopes were dashed when the acting captain Dwayne Bravo's 15-ball 28 got his team home, sealing the win with a six powered over midwicket off Watson. The match finished in near darkness, vaguely reminiscent of the World Cup final at the same venue, but this time Australia were not cheering.

Despite the loss, there were some positive signs for Australia, who tested a number of relatively new faces. Ronchi and Marsh opened the batting and quickly showed why they are viewed as men to watch in Australia's limited-overs future. Marsh took nine off Jerome Taylor in the first over, including a sweetly struck drive straight back over the bowler's head for six.

Ronchi had even more fun in Taylor's next over, backing away and slamming a six over backward point before following with powerful fours over cover and long-on. It was an exciting start, and Bravo contributed to the boundaries by apparently not realising the first Powerpaly had finished after three overs, keeping the field in unnecessarily for the fourth.

Bravo had shown some nous by opening with Sulieman Benn, whose spin forced Marsh and Ronchi to create the pace. In response, Ronchi slapped fours contemptuously on both sides of the wicket against Benn but his exciting innings ended on 36 from 22 balls when he gave another debutant, Kemar Roach, his first wicket thanks to a catch at long-off from Taylor.

It was a positive comeback after Roach began his international career with an ugly beamer that Marsh did well to get some bat on. Marsh crashed a huge six over long-on against Roach but then handed him his second wicket when his pull was brilliantly taken by Marshall, who jumped back on the midwicket boundary and then shimmied around the rope like a dancer to avoid conceding a six.

Batting for the first time in a Twenty20 international, David Hussey skied a catch for a second-ball duck before Watson and Cameron White completed the target-setting. It was hard to know what would be an appropriate score, given that it was the biggest reduction to both innings ever seen in a Twenty20 international.

The start was delayed by two hours and 25 minutes as persistent rain fell over Kensington Oval and it was beginning to look like the first Twenty20 international to be held in the Caribbean would not be held after all. In the end, the crowd got to see nearly two hours of relentless entertainment and, importantly, a home-team victory.

Canada to host Twenty20 tri-series in August

Canada will host a Twenty20 tri-series featuring Pakistan, West Indies and Bangladesh from August 13 to 16 and all the matches will be played in Toronto. The tournament, which was organised by the PCB to fill up its calendar after the postponement of their home series against Australia, had initially faced problems with the backing out of the primary sponsors, but the board has managed to bring in a Pakistan-based business house to finance the event.

"The proposed tournament in Canada may have run into major problems after the previous sponsor backed out of their commitment,"

Shafqat Naghmi, the chief operating officer of the PCB, told the News.

"But we've got new sponsors and hopefully the tournament will go ahead according to schedule."

Naghmi said the board had also received a guarantee from the new sponsors for Pakistan's participation for the tournament. This will the first time in close to nine years that Pakistan will be playing in Canada: they had beaten West Indies 3-0 in September, 1999. Prior to that, they had played an annual ODI series against India from 1996 to 1998, winning on two occasions.

Stanford confirms 20 million dollar match against England

England's cricketers will take part in some of the richest matches in sport after it was announced Wednesday they would be playing a series of 20 million dollar winner-takes all Twenty20 clashes in the Caribbean.

The matches are being bankrolled by Texan billionaire Allen Stanford, the man behind the domestic Twenty20 tournament in the West Indies.

Starting on November 1, England will play a series of one-off floodlit matches over a five-year period against the Stanford Super Stars, a Caribbean select side, at Stanford's own ground in Antigua.

"I see the Stanford Twenty20 as a fantastic opportunity for current players in the Stanford Twenty20 tournament to take a giant leap into the spotlight and gain exposure to top class opposition," Stanford said in a statement.

Stanford, who described the matches as offering the richest team prize for a single sporting match, added:

"The Stanford Twenty20 for 20 (million dollars) will be a highly anticipated event, not just because of the prize money, but because of the traditional friendly rivalrey that exists between England and the West Indies."

Twelve million dollars will go to the players in the winning squad with one million dollars to be split among the winning management team.

The remainder will be divided between the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB).

Further details were expected to be announced at a news conference at Lord's here Wednesday.

Stanford arrived at Lord's in his own private helicopter which touched down on the Nursery Ground, where he was met by a delegation, including West Indies greats Sir Garfield Sobers and Vivian Richards.

Twenty20, which was pioneered as a professional sport in English county cricket and lasts just three hours, compared to a whole day for a 50-overs per side match or the five days of a Test match, has quickly become popular around the world.

It led to the creation of a World Twenty20 and a lucrative event in India.

England set to announce Stanford deal

Allen Stanford, the Texan-born billionaire backer of the West Indies domestic Twenty20 competition, and officials from the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) are to hold a joint news conference here at Lord's on Wednesday.

Stanford has been holding talks with the ECB about the prospect of his Caribbean all-star side playing England in a series of one-off games at his own ground in Antigua worth a reported 10 million pounds (20 million dollars) to the winners - a staggering sum by cricketing standards.

His proposals also include plans for an annual quadrangular Twenty20 event in London at Lord's.

Stanford is now due to appear at the news conference alongside ECB chairman Giles Clarke and ECB chief executive David Collier as well as West Indies Test great Vivian Richards and England legend Ian Botham, now president of the Professional Cricketers' Association (PCA).

Australia look at new Twenty20 tournament

Australia could introduce a tournament similar to the Indian Premier League in two years after Cricket Australia revealed it has started planning for another domestic Twenty20 event.

The IPL has forced other countries to consider their options, with England already involved in talks with the billionaire Allen Stanford.

Paul Marsh, the Australian Cricketers’ Association chief executive, has pushed for an international league system like the one used in soccer and Peter Young, a Cricket Australia spokesman, said the organisation was looking at the possibilities.

“In reality we have taken a blank sheet of paper and said: ‘What might a domestic Twenty20 competition look like?’”

Young told the Herald Sun.

“Should it be just one side from each state? Should we look at overseas models, including the IPL model, where you have a city base and more than one team from certain states? Should it involve New Zealand or not? We are thinking that through.”

While the ideas are speculative, the paper reported a salary cap, icon players for each team and a draft for the international talent could be employed.

Similar moves have helped make the IPL a major success in India over the first half of the competition. A domestic Twenty20 tournament has been held in Australia for the past three years but has only involved state players, limiting its potential for international exposure and television revenue.

England considering new team structure for Twenty20 cricket

The English Cricket Board is to consider a new team structure for Twenty20 competition at home.

The Chairman,ECB,Giles Clarke, has advised the Domestic Structure Review Group to bring necessary changes in the format of teams participating in the Twenty20 competitions in the upcoming 2008 domestic season.

An ECB release said the DSRG has been asked to consider whether sides should be able to field teams comprising four England qualified players, four under 23 England qualified players and three overseas /unqualified players.

The ECB chairman also confirmed that the DSRG had been asked to investigate a number of different options for consideration by the Board, including an extended Twenty20 domestic competition and other Cup competitions.