England not in favour of Saudi-backed T20 league

MELBOURNE: The chief executive officer of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), Richard Gould on Tuesday stated that the English cricket board would not back a Saudi Arabia-sponsored international Twenty20 league because there was not sufficient time on the schedule for it.

Eight teams will compete at four separate venues in the tournament, which will be supported by Saudi Arabia's national wealth fund's sports department, according to a Sydney Morning Herald story published on Saturday.

"With the busy international calendar, a host of established franchise leagues around the world, and existing concerns about player workloads, there is no scope or demand for such an idea," Gould told the same newspaper.

"It's not something that we would support."

The ECB is keen to protect its own 100-ball format league, The Hundred, having raised $1.27 billion last month after selling franchise stakes to private investors.

The Indian Premier League remains the benchmark in franchise cricket, while Australia, Pakistan, West Indies, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates also have their own T20 leagues.

The Australian Cricketers Association has backed the proposed league saying it was mandated to "pursue initiatives that benefit our members".

"The ACA's early interest in exploring this concept is motivated by a desire to develop and normalise best-practice collective bargaining and an international gender-equity pay model for male and female cricketers," the player's union was quoted as saying in the report.