Euro T20 Slam postponed to 2020: Details here
What's the story
The inaugural Euro T20 Slam has got canceled this year just two weeks before the scheduled start. This has happened due to organizers not being ready yet. In order to buy more time for preparations, the T20 cricket league has been postponed to 2020. The organizers claimed that it has reluctantly been postponed. Here are more details on the same.
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Tournament not possible in 2019: Organizers
"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," said a tournament spokesman.
Info
Key information about the Euro T20 Slam
The tournament was set to be a three-week affair. Six franchises were set to take part in this continent based T20 league. Two teams based in Ireland, Netherlands and Scotland were scheduled to part of the tournament. The six teams that were set to make their presence felt were Amsterdam Knights, Belfast Titans, Dublin Chiefs, Edinburg Rocks, Glasgow Giants and Rotterdam Rhinos.
T20 leagues
Third T20 league to be canceled in a year's time
The Euro T20 Slam became the third franchise league to be canceled or postponed in the space of a year. This is after the UAE's T20X competition which was canceled in November 2018. Another competition that got canceled was Hong Kong Blitz. This league faces an uncertain future after the 2019 edition was first postponed and then canceled entirely.
Issues
After payment issues in Global T20 Canada, Slam faces uncertainty
The Slam's postponement comes after a high profile wage dispute during the Global T20 Canada. A match was delayed by almost two hours as players refused to take the field in relation to payments not being cleared. Notably, the two leagues share the same backers in GS Holdings, parent to Mercuri and Bombay Sports Limited. This serves as a huge blow regarding the brand.
Information
Euro T20 Slam had lined up some big guns
The Euro T20 Slam had lined up some megastars for its inaugural season. Some top T20 freelancers had been roped in by the six franchises. This included Eoin Morgan, Pakistan's Shahid Afridi, Australia's Shane Watson and Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid Khan.
Our take
Were the organizers far too ambitious?
A lot of efforts were put into the event by all parties concerned. To have a tournament get canceled just two weeks before the start is unacceptable. Perhaps, the organizers were far too ambitious. With the Global T20 Canada facing losses, this was always going to test the Slam. Somewhere a panic situation arose and this led to the postponement.