Leicester launch cricket's Champions League

The seeds of a global 20-over club competition - cricket's answer to the Champions League - will be sown at Grace Road this September, when Leicestershire play host to the inaugural International 20:20 Club Championship.

The six-team, nine-match tournament, a brainchild of Leicestershire's commercial partners, Investors in Cricket (IIC), will take place from 15-17 September and will also feature Somerset, the 2005 Twenty20 champions, and the Nashua Titans, the winners of South Africa's Pro20 tournament.

Asia will be represented by a combined Indian and Pakistani Friendship XI, featuring several leading players from both countries, while for this inaugural year the numbers will be made up by a Professional Cricketers' Association Masters XI, and the celebrity pub team, Lashings, which has in the past called upon several former West Indian internationals.

Australasia is the one major region that has not yet taken to the 20-over format, but Alex Balfour, Director of Strategy for IIC, believed the concept was strong enough to survive without the backing of this key region of the game. "We believe that the format makes stars of the players, not the other way round," said Balfour. "Our aim is to build a tournament that will help professional teams both here and overseas to thrive commercially and will replicate the appeal of the UEFA Champions League in football and Super 12 Rugby.

"By holding the event on a regular basis in venues across the cricketing world, we feel that we can develop a genuinely innovative tournament that will capture the imagination of players and fans alike." Already, there are plans afoot to host the next tournament in Dubai in March next year, and India after that, and Somerset's chief executive, Richard Gould, said that his team, for one, would be "honoured" to take part if the Grace Road event proves to be a success.

"We are the surprise package," admitted Gould, after Somerset were added to the bill at the last minute - at the expense of the 2003 champions, Surrey - following their victory over Lancashire in Saturday's Twenty20 final. "We are very pleased to be involved. Twenty20 cricket has made a promising start with many of the game's purists being won over, and this event is sure to generate a great deal of publicity."

The tournament has not received universal backing, largely because there is a fear that a plethora of these independent competitions will devalue the attraction of the Twenty20 Cup. But the ECB has said that it has "no objection at all" to the competition taking place, even though a subtle tweak to the title has been needed to sidestep the their copyrighting of the "Twenty20" brand.

"We are not trying to hijack or piggyback on the success of the Twenty20 Cup," insisted Balfour, "but it is our aspiration to become a tournament of champions. The format has given English domestic cricket a real shot in the arm, attracting new audiences and giving counties an opportunity to generate increased revenues."

The revenue factor is the clincher, because since the disbandment of the First Class Forum at the beginning of the 2005 season, the onus has been on the counties to become go-getters and generate income for themselves, rather than relying on ECB handouts. And unsurprisingly, Twenty20 cricket has become the principle vehicle for the more ambitious clubs.

"The format has proven spectacularly appealing to our fan base in the East Midlands," said Leicestershire's chairman, Neil Davidson. "Two weeks ago, Grace Road was completely sold out for our quarter-final against Middlesex. We are keen to ensure that the county plays its part in helping the ECB to meet the target of raising spectator levels in domestic cricket by 15% over the next four years".

The teams have been drawn in groups of three and will play two group matches on the Thursday and Friday of the tournament. The top two teams from each group will qualify for the finals day on Saturday which will consist of two semi-finals and a final. There is a £25,000 first prize at stake, and the title of International 20:20 Club Champions, but if the crowds continue to flock in the manner they have done all season, the rewards could be all the greater.