London [UK]: England’s limited-overs skipper Eoin Morgan will represent Dublin Chiefs in the inaugural season of the upcoming Euro T20 Slam.
Morgan, born in Ireland represented the national side before joining the England cricket team.
“I am proud and delighted to participate in the inaugural Euro T20 Slam. 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,” ESPN Cricinfo quoted Morgan as saying.
Several prominent current and former cricketers were drafted into the six teams that will be taking part in the tournament.
In the six teams, two each are based in Ireland, Scotland, and the Netherlands. Each team has 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.
In the draft system, there was a lucky draw to determine who got the first pick.
The first player to be picked was Australian Ben Cutting, by Amsterdam Knights.
Pakistan’s Mohammad Amir, Fakhar Zaman, England’s Ravi Bopara, and Kiwi Matt Henry were picked up in the first two rounds of the draft.
Pakistan’s Shaheen Afridi was the first pick in the third round. South Africa’s Colin Ingram, England’s Tymal Mills, and Pakistan’s Hasan Ali were also picked in the third round.
Former Indian player Anil Kumble is 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 the Netherlands, Ireland, and Scotland competing against each other. It will be a great opportunity for local talent to rub shoulders with some of the best cricketing talents worldwide,” Kumble said.
Squads of all six teams for upcoming T20 Slam are as follows:
Amsterdam Knights: Shane Watson, Imran Tahir , 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.
Belfast Titans: Shahid Afridi, JP Duminy, 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.
Dublin Chiefs: Eoin Morgan, Babar Azam, 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.
Edinburgh Rocks: Martin Guptill, Chris Lynn, 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.
Glasgow Giants: Brendon McCullum, Dale Steyn, 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, Luke Ronchi, 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.
The tournament will take place from August 30-September 22 and the matches will be scheduled at Edinburgh, Amsterdam and Dublin.