ORGANISERS for the 2011 Champions League Twenty20 have revealed plans for a six-team qualifying event ahead of the main tournament later this year.
Teams from India, West Indies, Sri Lanka, New Zealand and England will be invited to participate in the round-robin event, from which three will go on to compete in the 10-team CLT20. The restructure means more teams than ever before will be given the chance to compete for T20’s biggest prize of US$2.5M.
Fourth-placed Indian Premier League side Kolkata Knight Riders, West Indian champions Trinidad and Tobago and New Zealand’s Auckland Aces have already been confirmed as participants in the qualifying tournament.
They will be joined by the yet-to-be-decided Sri Lankan Premier League champions and two teams from England’s Friends Life t20 competition.
The qualifying rounds will be held at Hyderabad, September 19-21. The top three teams will then go on to join the main tournament, held in Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkata from September 23 to October 9.
The seven teams to have qualified for the CLT20 proper include reigning Big Bash champions South Australia and runners-up New South Wales Blues.
The top three in this year’s IPL – Chennai Super Kings, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai Indians – will also participate, along with the Warriors and the Cape Cobras from South Africa. (PA Sport)