Cricket’s EPL from 2010: ECB

LEEDS: English cricket is to feature two Twenty20 competitions as part of a new structure for the domestic game. Starting 2010, the new English Premier League (EPL) will feature two, as yet unnamed, overseas teams, in addition to England’s 18 first-class counties, playing in two divisions of 10 teams each. The existing Pro-40 competition, a 40-overs-a-side event, will end in 2009 and be replaced in 2010 by a Twenty20 league which will incorporate all 18 counties. The competition will be played primarily on Friday nights in July and August.

An ECB statement said the Twenty20 league would be the qualifying tournament for the multi-million dollar Champions League, the inaugural edition of which takes place later this year and features the world’s leading domestic Twenty20 sides.