Inaugural Euro T20 slam cancelled

08/15/2019

It was confirmed on Wednesday that the inaugural season of the Euro T20 Slam, a new franchise league, will not be going ahead. The collaborative venture between Ireland, Scotland, and the Netherlands becomes the third T20 league to cancelled or postponed in the space of twelve months.

After UAE's T20X competition was cancelled in November, and the 2019 edition of the Hong Kong Blitz first postponed and then cancelled entirely, the Euro T20 Slam follows in as the third event to meet the same fate. ET20S board member Prashant Mishra confirmed the news yesterday.

"The Board of the Euro T20 Slam, funding partners and franchise owners of this exciting new T20 tournament have reluctantly come to the decision that staging of the event will not be possible in 2019. We will work with the three cricket boards, our principal investors, the franchise owners, players and other stakeholders within the game to ensure we fulfil any commitments we have made to the extent possible. We want to ensure the goodwill and integrity that we have built up rolls on into 2020," Mishra was quoted saying by Cricbuzz.

Malcolm Cannon, the Chief Executive of Cricket Scotland feels that the decision made is indeed the right one. "While this was a very difficult decision to make at this late stage, we believe that it is the right one and one which leaves us with a great opportunity to launch the Euro T20 Slam next year with its deserved noise level," Cannon said.

The exact reasons behind the postponement of the league are not yet clear. However, it seems as though the approximately 10 million dollar loss in the very first season of its sister league in Canada, GT20, played a factor. The European project was considerably more ambitious both in terms of logistics and payroll.

Warren Deutrom, Chief Executive of Cricket Ireland, said that he hopes the excitement and energy will carry forward to the next year, when the tournament will be relaunched. He ensured everyone that he and team will continue to work behind the scenes for 2020.

"The excitement and energy that the Euro T20 Slam had generated since it was announced has demonstrated a high level of interest amongst the Irish public in seeing world-class cricket hosted here in Ireland. We hope that that interest will carry on until 2020 when the Slam will finally get underway. We will continue to engage with the event organisers to ensure all commitments are met to their fullest extent," Deutrom said.

Betty Timmer, chair of the KNCB, also expressed her disappointment with the news, as the league had promised so much for the development of the game among the Dutch.

"As said, it is extremely disappointing that the Euro T20 Slam is not going ahead in 2019. With the scheduled opening games only two weeks away the KNCB was looking forward to this exciting new event that would have brought cricket much closer to the Dutch fans. The KNCB feels for everyone involved and for all the hard work that have been put in by so many people in The Netherlands and other countries. We give our full support and hope for a successful event next year," Timmer said.

Inaugural Euro T20 slam cancelled

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