Smith, Marsh to play in new Europe-based T20 league; Waugh, Maxwell among owners

Steven Smith and Mitchell Marsh are among the stars set to appear in a new Europe-based T20 league co-owned by Bollywood star Abhishek Bachchan and which features franchises owned by Australian legend Steve Waugh and Glenn Maxwell. On Wednesday, Waugh and Maxwell were revealed as owners of the European T20 Premier League (ETPL), which will run out of Ireland, Scotland and Netherlands.

Former New Zealand players Kyle Mills and Nathan McCullum are owners of another franchise, with another three teams yet to be sold in the league which was originally meant to launch last summer. The three franchises already sold are based in Amsterdam, Belfast and Edinburgh while the three remaining ones, once sold, will be based in Dublin, Rotterdam, and Glasgow.

Waugh, for whom this marks a first serious involvement in the game since his retirement over 20 years ago, is part of a consortium of investors who will own Amsterdam Flames, a group that includes former Australia field hockey great Jamie Dwyer. Maxwell will co-own the Irish Wolves along with Rohan Lund, former Group Chief Executive Officer of NRMA, an Australia-based insurance company. McCullum and Mills have bought the Edinburgh franchise.

The league has been a long time coming, given the Euro Slam T20 - involving the same three boards - was due to launch in 2019 but never took off. The ETPL is a joint venture between Cricket Ireland and the India-based Rules Global (Rules X), and strategic partnerships with Cricket Scotland and KNCB (Netherlands cricket board). Bachchan is a co-founder, along with three other Indian investors including Dhiraj Malhotra, former CEO of IPL's Delhi Capitals.

The inaugural season of the ETPL, the first league sanctioned by ICC to be based across multiple countries, is scheduled between August 26 and September 20. On current schedules, that means it starts 10 days after the Hundred final, but is likely to clash with the CPL, the dates of which are yet to be announced but is likely to be played in the August-September window.

According to Waugh, Smith and Marsh - who is Australia's T20 captain - and Netherlands captain Scott Edwards are among players signed up with Amsterdam Flames. Waugh confirmed Flames were also in "positive" discussions with Tim David.

"We've approached a number of players and haven't had one negative comment at all," Waugh told ESPNcricinfo. "They're just so fascinated by it. I think because I haven't been involved too much in cricket, they must think, well, this is a serious project. And they know what I stand for: the values and teamwork and working together and being successful. They're fascinated by the fact that it's going to be in Europe.

"And the potential to expand cricket into almost a new market and to have an impact on the players in Europe and the continental players, to make them better. As a player, you want to make the players around you better and as you get older, you realise that's really important. It's not so much about yourself, but it's the impact you have on people around you. And the players we're talking about, Steve Smith and Mitch Marsh, they're at the stage of their career where they want to help develop other players."

Waugh, a two-time World Cup winner who retired just as T20 cricket began, has never played or coached in the format. What prompted him to invest in ETPL? "This opportunity came up about three or four months ago. I love the fact that it's almost that underdog spirit against the odds, achieving something that people don't think is possible - being involved in a European T20 competition is something I never thought I'd be involved in.

"The opportunity for those continental players to play alongside the world's best cricketers for four or five weeks at a time is going to fast-track their progress. There's three sides from Europe in the T20 World Cup coming up. There's opportunities for those sides going forward to be at the Olympics. So this is a massive opportunity for European cricket.

"We want this to be a meaningful competition. It's not just a token gesture to support European cricket. This aims to be one of the best leagues in the world. It's not the best T20 competition in the world. I mean, that's lofty ambitions, but you got to set your standards high."

Bachchan, who is co-founder of ETPL, agreed with Waugh but said he was "realistic" about the league's ambitions. This is Bachchan's first involvement in overseas sports franchises, having been a co-owner of teams in the Indian Super League for football (Chennaiyin FC), Pro Kabaddi League (Jaipur Pink Panthers) and Indian Street Premier League (Majhi Mumbai).

Bachchan said that the ETPL was on the verge of signing an Indian broadcaster soon. He was non-committal about whether any IPL franchises had expressed an interest in buying a franchise here.

The inaugural season will be played in Ireland and the Netherlands, with the final set of venues still to be finalised.

"That's part of the reason of why you want to be in Europe as well, because you want to help develop and build these kind of infrastructures," Bachchan told ESPNcricinfo. "So the tournament for this year is going to be played in two centres in Dublin and in the Netherlands, which already have wonderful pitches.

"We will be constructing stands, modified to what we think will maximise the experience of going to a T20 match and build it from there. It's good to have lofty ambitions, but you also have to be realistic. You have to build it brick by brick, and that's exactly the approach we have. Having worked in sports for so long, and I think Mr Waugh will endorse this, at the end of the day, it's the people at the ground that are there cheering you and experiencing it that are going to come back and keep following the sport."