Eoin Morgan, Rashid Khan, Dale Steyn and Babar Azam were among prominent players who were drafted into the six teams that will make up the inaugural Euro T20 Slam in London on Friday.
The six teams – two each based in Ireland, Scotland and Netherlands – each have one designated ‘icon player’ and one ‘marquee player’. The identities of the icon and marquee players had been set beforehand but not which teams they would represent.
Amsterdam Knights got Shane Watson as the icon player and Tahir as their marquee player. Similarly, Belfast Titans got Shahid Afridi and JP Duminy, Dublin Chiefs had Morgan and Azam, Edinburgh Rocks got Martin Guptill and Chris Lynn, Glasgow Giants had Brendon McCullum and Steyn, while Rotterdam Rhinos had Rashid and Luke Ronchi.
The draft system meant there was a lucky draw to determine who got the first pick, with the subsequent rounds following the reverse order.
The first player to be picked was Ben Cutting, by Knights. Others who were picked up in the first two rounds included Mohammad Amir, Fakhar Zaman, Ravi Bopara and Matt Henry. Shaheen Afridi was the first pick in the third round, that also saw Colin Ingram, Tymal Mills and Hasan Ali being picked.
Morgan, fresh from becoming the first England captain to win the World Cup, will have a homecoming of sorts playing for his city’s franchise, Chiefs. “I am proud and delighted to participate in the inaugural Euro T20 Slam,” Morgan said. “You only have to look at the calibre of international and local stars who have been selected to see that it’s going to be an electrifying tournament across three new T20 locations in northern Europe. It’s going to be incredibly competitive and I can’t wait to get going.”
The tournament has Anil Kumble, the former India captain and coach, as one of the board members on the league’s advisory committee.
“It is encouraging to see the growth of cricket worldwide, and I am excited to witness teams from Netherlands, Ireland and Scotland competing against each other,” Kumble said. “It will be a great opportunity for local talent to rub shoulders with some of the best cricketing talent worldwide.”
The matches will take place in three cities – Edinburgh, Amsterdam and Dublin – and the competition will run from August 30 to September 22.
Amsterdam Knights: Shane Watson (icon player), Imran Tahir (marquee player), Ben Cutting, Ahmed Shehzad, Sikandar Raza, Varun Chopra, Hasan Ali, Alzarri Joseph, Saad Bin Zafar, Tobias Visee, Roelof van der Merwe, Brandon Glover, Ben Cooper, Paul van Meekeren, Phillipe Boissevain, Wesley Barresi, Sikandar Zulfiqar, Tonny Staal.
Coach: Mark O’Donnell
Belfast Titans: Shahid Afridi (icon player), JP Duminy (marquee player), Luke Wright, Colin Ingram, Mitchell McClenaghan, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Ilyas, Aaron Summers, Paul Stirling, Gary Wilson, Mark Adair, Boyd Rankin, Shane Getkate, Craig Young, Andy McBrine, Stuart Thompson, Greg Thompson.
Coach: Ian Pont
Dublin Chiefs: Eoin Morgan (icon player), Babar Azam (marquee player), Mohammad Amir, Harry Gurney, Daniel Christian, Robbie Frylinck, Corbin Bosch, Andy Balbirnie, Kevin O’Brien, George Dockrell, Lorcan Tucker, Josh Little, Simi Singh, Tyrone Kane, Gareth Delaney, Harry Tector.
Coach: Daniel Vettori
Edinburgh Rocks: Martin Guptill (icon player), Chris Lynn (marquee player), Corey Anderson, Matt Henry, Tymal Mills, Tabraiz Shamsi, Anton Devcich, Dwaine Pretorius, Waqar Salamkheil, Kyle Coetzer, Calum MacLeod, Mark Watt, Michael Leask, Craig Wallace, Gavin Main, Adrian Neill, Dylan Budge, Oliver Hairs.
Coach: Mark Ramprakash
Glasgow Giants: Brendon McCullum (icon player), Dale Steyn (marquee player), Ravi Bopara, Moises Henriques, Heinrich Klaasen, JJ Smuts, Usman Shinwari, Qais Ahmad, Richie Berrington, George Munsey, Alasdair Evans, Safyaan Sharif, Matthew Cross, Tom Sole, Scott Cameron, Hamza Tahir, Michael Jones.
Coach: Lance Klusener
Rotterdam Rhinos: Rashid Khan (icon player), Luke Ronchi (marquee player), Samit Patel, Peter Trego, Fakhar Zaman, Hardus Viljoen, Shaheen Afridi, Anwar Ali, Max O’Dowd, Pieter Seelaar, Scott Edwards, Fred Klaassen, Shane Snater, Stephan Myburgh, Saqib Zulfiqar, Vivian Kingma, Bas de Leede.
Coach: Herschelle Gibbs
Source: ESPN Crickinfo