By Sheriff Michaels
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (TheSportsNEXT) October 9, 2012: The cash-rich Champions League Twenty20 2012 is swinging into action at the New Wanderers in Johannesburg on Tuesday (today) with Pakistan’s Sialkot Stallions, England’s Yorkshire, Sri Lanka’s UVA Next and New Zealand’s Auckland commencing the qualifying round.
This is the first time any Pakistani domestic Twenty20 side is taking part in the Champions League Twenty20 tournament while it may be the last time that the cricket fans would see English county sides participate in the lucrative tournament after England and Wales Cricket Board announced recently that it would want its county sides to focus more on the local tournaments.
The three-day qualifying round will see six teams fighting for two berths in the final round of the Champions League Twenty20 tournament where a tough competition is likely to be witnessed amid calls of Twenty20 cricket overkill as the first match will be played in less than 48 hours after the ICC World Twenty20 2012 Final.
In the final round of the tournament, a total of 10 teams will battle it out for the Twenty20 riches where apart from the two qualifiers, four Indian Premier League, two Big Bash, and two South African domestic teams will light up the Twenty20 action.
In the first match, Sri Lankan domestic champions Uva Next will face off against English domestic runner-ups Yorkshire County Cricket Club at the New Wanderers in the picturesque Johannesburg where an early morning drizzle made it a perfect day for a tournament launch and of course cricket. West Indies’ Trinidad & Tobago is the third team in their group.
In the second match scheduled for evening, Pakistan’s domestic Twenty20 champions Sialkot Stallions will make Champions League Twenty20 debut against New Zealand’s Auckland side. England’s domestic Twenty20 champions Hampshire are the third side in this group.
Uva Next squad includes Thilian Kandamby (Skipper), Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Sameera de Zoysa, Fawad Alam, Dilhara Fernando, Charith Jayampathi, Chinthaka Jayasinghe, AB McDonald, Dilshan Munaweera, Jacob Oram, Seekkuge Prasanna, Ashan Priyanjan, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Sachithra Senanayake, and Umar Gul.
Yorkshire squad includes Andrew Gale (Skipper), Moin Ashraf, Azeem Rafiq, Gary Balance, Oliver Hannon-Dalby, Dan Hodgson, Phil Jacques, Adam Lyth, David Miller, Steven Patterson, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Ryan Sidebottom, Iain Wardlaw, and Eddie Wilson.
Sialkot Stallions squad includes Shoaib Malik (Skipper) Abdur Rehman, Ali Khan, Bilawal Bhatti, Faisal Naved, Haris Sohail, Raza Hasan, Imran Nazir, Mohammad Ayub, Rana Naved ul Hasan, Qaiser Abbas, Sarfraz Ahmed, Shahid Yousuf, Shakeel Ansar (WK), and Umaid Asif.
Auckland squad includes Gareth Hopkins (Skipper), Andre Adams, Azhar Mahmood, Michael Bates, Bradley Cachopa, Colin de Grandhomme, Martin Guptill, Ronnie Hira, Anaru Kitchen, Mitchell McClenaghan, Bruce Martin, Chris Martin, Kyle Mills, Colin Munro, and Lou Vincent.
No comments:
Post a Comment