Former Australia captain Steve Waugh is seeking to conquer cricket's "last great frontier" as one of the investors in a new European T20 franchise competition set to feature Steve Smith and Mitchell Marsh.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Organisers of the city-based European T20 Premier League (ETPL), co-founded by Bollywood star Abhishek Bachchan, on Wednesday announced the owners of its first three franchises in Amsterdam, Edinburgh and Belfast.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Amsterdam will be owned by a group led by Waugh while Edinburgh will be owned by former New Zealand internationals Nathan McCullum and Kyle Mills.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Australia all-rounder Glenn Maxwell, a global T20 star, is one of the owners of the Belfast team.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
It is expected that deals for the remaining franchises in Dublin, Glasgow and Rotterdam will be completed by the end of February.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The six-team competition was planned to be launched in 2025 but was postponed and is expected to start in late August.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Waugh, 60, said the Amsterdam Flames had already signed Australia great Smith and Marsh, who is Australia's T20 captain.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Former Australia skipper Waugh, who scored nearly 11,000 Test runs, said the opportunity to invest in the venture "stood out because it is driven by aspiration and long-term thinking".<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"In many ways, it marks a return to the game for me, but in a very different role," he said.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"This is about helping uphold the standards and spirit of cricket while supporting its growth into Europe, which remains the game's last great frontier."<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Maxwell said: "The Irish people love their sport and Cricket Ireland have made huge strides in expanding the game over the last two decades."<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Saurav Banerjee, co-founder of the ETPL, said that Europe had more than 30 International Cricket Council members but "much of Europe's cricketing ecosystem remains under-commercialised, presenting a significant opportunity for structured growth".
\r\n <\/p>\r\n",
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