New Zealand plan domestic Twenty20 expansion

New Zealand Cricket is planning to expand its domestic Twenty20 competition and schedule it during the holiday season from late December to early January.

Under the current format, the six teams played eight matches in the summer through February before the final in early March. The new schedule, although yet to be finalized, will have teams playing each other twice to determine the finalists.

Pakistan are due to play three Tests in New Zealand before Christmas while Bangladesh arrive in February followed by Australia, creating a window for a longer Twenty20 competition. "Next summer we don't have any international commitments being played between Christmas through to the end of January," NZC chief executive Justin Vaughan told Radio Sport. "We have got this big window and we have our Black Caps available. We see this as a way to make a real go of our domestic Twenty20 competition.

"I think everyone appreciates that Twenty20 is the hot ticket for cricket at the moment," Vaughan said. "We've been growing the competition year on year but we've never really cracked it."

The expansion of the domestic Twenty20 tournament, however, was not expected to affect the staging of the one-day competition, which will also be played between December and January.