Cricket: Champions link boosts domestic series

You can't fault New Zealand Cricket for putting up an eye-catching sail to catch the prevailing Twenty20 breeze with a souped-up domestic competition this summer.

The double round robin format to be played through January was unveiled yesterday, the bells and whistles provided by the availability of New Zealand's best cricketers, the lure of a spot in the rich Champions League in India acting as the big financial incentive.

Throw in one international star from overseas to spike interest levels, live television coverage of one game in each round, plus cameras at all games and NZC hope they're on to a winner.

New Zealand have a convenient gap in their international programme, between the visit of Pakistan in November-December and arrival of Bangladesh and Australia in February.

Otago head to India shortly for this year's 12-team Champions League, which starts on October 8. It has a US$500,000 ($715,000) participation fee, win or lose, and prizemoney is an eye-watering US$6 million.

NZC hopes the financial incentives, not to mention the international element among the squads, sparks fresh interest.

"It's really going to be an unprecedented series of domestic cricket in January," NZC chief executive Justin Vaughan said.

New sponsor, home ventilation systems company HRV, has signed on with naming rights for three years. While other teams going to India have more than one overseas player, NZC has stipulated just one per team this season.

Otago have English allrounder Dimitri Mascarenhas back; Northern Districts have signed Sri Lankan star Tillekaratne Dilshan; and Wellington have hired England batsman Owais Shah. Central Districts are due to unveil their signing in the next few days and Auckland are close to an announcement.

Canterbury are not able to acquire an overseas name as they have two South Africans, wicketkeeper Kruger van Wyk and Johan Myburgh, who have settled in New Zealand but are not yet eligible for national selection.

Vaughan, who has an open mind on doubling the number of overseas players per team, knows other Champions League teams have looser arrangements with the game's hired guns, but is adopting a wait-and-see policy until after this season.

It was important to have the country's best players involved in the HRV Cup, he said.

"We want to have our Black Caps there because the prize is so great," Vaughan added. The link to the Champions League gave the domestic competition "enormous relevance".

The domestic four-day and 50-over schedules are due out next week. The first-class programme is likely to be a double round robin without a final, the shorter version eight rounds and a final.

But yesterday's announcement made it clear which of the three forms has the domestic priority this summer.

* * *

Pakistan will play four one-day internationals and two Twenty20 matches against New Zealand in the United Arab Emirates next month. It will be Pakistan's second one-day series at a neutral venue this year after earlier hosting Australia in the UAE.