ETPL a 'wonderful opportunity' to grow cricket

Belfast Wolves CEO Neil Maxwell believes the new European T20 Premier League is a "wonderful opportunity" to grow the game across the continent.

A former Fiji international who played his club cricket in Australia and New Zealand, Maxwell has observed the success of the Indian Premier League [IPL] and feels the ETPL can drive major improvement in non-traditional cricket nations in Europe.

The fledgling competition will see six teams, two from each of Ireland, Scotland and the Netherlands, battle it out of four weeks to be crowned winners with top team after the round robin advancing to the final, while second will play third to join them.

The tournament begins on 26 August with Voorburg, Netherlands hosting the first phase before the action moves to Malahide in Dublin from 9 September, all culminating in the final on 20 September.

"It's a way for grassroots cricket to connect with international cricket and an opportunity to bring top-class players to Europe to expose the game to everyone," Maxwell told BBC Sport NI.

"We saw what the Indian Premier League did for the development of Indian cricket, bringing international standards to one country and I think we will see that with the ETPL level where we have some of the best players in the world coming and playing with others developing their skills.

"It's a wonderful opportunity and European cricket will be blessed by it because it's a way to connect with 32 countries.

"Doing things individually won't work but trying to do it at this scale and provide a pathway for that many countries is a good business models."

The Belfast franchise includes Australia international and player-owner Glenn Maxwell, England's T20 World Cup winner Chris Jordan and New Zealand's Devon Conway along with Ireland internationals Paul Stirling, Tim Tector, Mark Adair, Lorcan Tucker and Matthew Humphreys.

For Jordan, the opportunity to test himself in a new competition was too good to turn down and a conversation with Wolves CEO Maxwell convinced him Belfast would be his destination.

"There are very high-quality players in the league, so as long as you have quality players, you should have quality cricket," the 37-year-old said.

"The pitches should be good top produce high-scoring encounters so once you have all those ingredients, it should make for good viewing.

"There are 32 countries across Europe who play thee game who may not traditionally be known for playing, so the more kids we get playing preserves our game for a long time.

"Football is the number one sport [in Europe] but I feel cricket is rising all the time and there is a lot more awareness through the IPL and World Cups, Ireland becoming a test-playing nation are all good ingredients to push the game."

Maxwell shares those sentiments and is hopeful the competition will visit Belfast next year.

Naturally, the hope is for the Wolves to be crowned inaugural winners, but the bigger picture is the growth of the game and inspiring young cricketers to graduate to become players in the league down the line.

"Europe is probably fast-tracking and copying what has been successful in India and then developed in different parts of the world," Maxwell notes.

"It's not about our team being successful - it's about the league being successful.

"Everyone needs to understand you're contributing to a greater goal and if the league is successful, the value of the teams will rise accordingly.

"We at the Wolves will focus on the community side of it at grassroots level, but the by-product is providing an aspiration an opportunity for players to come through the ranks."