England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) chief executive Richard Gould said they would not support a proposed global Twenty20 league bankrolled by Saudi Arabia as there was not enough room in the calendar for it.
A Sydney Morning Herald report on Saturday said the T20 event would be backed by the sports arm of Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund and feature eight teams playing in four different locations.
“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 chief added.
The league, dubbed the ‘Grand Slam Of Cricket’, will follow a tennis Grand Slam format, featuring teams assembling four times a year in different countries.
The brainchild of Neil Maxwell, a former Australian cricketer, the league aims to generate a new revenue stream to support weaker cricket boards and preserve Test cricket. The Australian Cricketers’ Association has proposed the idea, with SRJ Sports Investments, headed by Danny Townsend, set to be the primary investor.
