Twenty20 Champions League 2008

The inaugural Champions League Twenty20 tournament has been rescheduled from September-October to early December. The tournament, featuring eight teams, will now be played from Dec 3-10, it was announced by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Cricket Australia (CA) and Cricket South Africa (CSA), the three participating member-teams, in a joint statement on Thursday. The change of dates for the event was agreed by the event's governing council at the ICC's request for a clearer window for the event after the Champions Trophy. Venues and commercial partnership details will be finalised in the coming weeks. Winners and runners-up of the domestic Twenty20 competitions in India, Australia and South Africa, plus the Pakistan champions Sialkot and the English champions Middlesex have been invited to play for the $6 million prize money. "We are happy that we were able to find a window during the first week of December for the inaugural edition of the Twenty20 Champions League. The organisers have set September 25-October 10, 2009 as the dates for the League's second edition which will be expanded to 12 teams. The recent boom in Twenty20 cricket, sparked by the lucrative Indian Premier League this year, has led to growing concerns about the future of traditional Test and one-day cricket.

The Champions Twenty20 will be held in the first year in India. Form the second edition onwards attempts would be made to hold it in the Middle East, Australia, South Africa and England. The tournament, featuring the top two Twenty20 sides of the participating countries, will have a total prize money of $10 million, with winner getting $5 million and the runner-up $2.5 million.