OVERDOSE OF CRICKET - THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Dear Friends,     After the Champions Trophy which was a 50 over format involving 8 nations, there is more in store for cricket fans – the Champions League. 


The 2009 edition features 12 teams and there would be 23 matches in all. This tournament is sponsored by Airtel and is a competition between clubs from India, Australia, England, South Africa, Sri Lanka, New Zealand and West Indies. This League is chaired by Lalit Modi, who is the Chairman and Commissioner of the Indian Premier League and Vice-President of the BCCI.



As you would remember, this was launched in 2008 after the success of the IPL and was to have different teams thence. The first edition was set to happen during Sept – Oct 2008 in India. There were many teething troubles and was postponed to December. The terrorist attacks in Mumbai on 26th Nov had its impact on this and was cancelled subsequently.  Now in its new avatar, this tournament carries whopping Rs.170 crores of money. In the present edition there would 12 teams :  Top 3 teams of IPL, top 2 teams of Australia, England and South Africa and top teams from West Indies, New Zealand and Sri Lanka. Can you name them. Do not worry. Here is the list.:


1. Royal Challengers Bangalore


2. Deccan Chargers Hyderabad


3. Delhi Dare Devils


4. New South Wales Blues (Aus)


5. Victorian Bush Rangers (Aus)


6. Cape Cobras (SA)


7. Diamond Eagles (SA)


8. Otago Volts (NZ)


9. Sussex Sharks (Eng)


10. Somerset Sabres (Eng)


11. Trinidad & Tobago (WI) and


12. Wayamba (SL)


Well, some players who performed very well in the inaugural IPL would be missing – yes that of our neighbours - Sialkot Stallions who were the winners the Pak’s domestic T20 and who were to take part but will not be playing here in tune with the Govt. Policy.  The three Indian teams – RCB, DC & DD do not need any introduction. For the rest, here is something :


4) New South Wales Blues are an Australian first class cricket team based in Sydney, New South Wales and compete in Sheffield Shield, Ford Ranger Cup, and KFC Twenty20 Big Bash.


5) Victorian Bushrangers are also from the land of OZ, based in Melbourne.


6) Nashua Cape Cobras is the team from combined Western Province and Boland first class cricket teams in South African domestic cricket, hailing from Newlands, Capetown.


7) Gestetner Diamond Eagles is the team of combined Free State cricket team and Griqualand West first class cricket teams in South Africa, with home venue at Bloemfontein.


8) Otago Volts is an association team from the land of Kiwis


9) Sussex Sharks is one amongst the 18 major country clubs of English domestic cricket structure. Interestingly, Sussex won its first-ever official County Championship title in 2003 after a wait of more than 100 years.


10) Somerset Sabres is another team from England for which once Ian Botham, Sunil Gavaskar and Vivian Richards played. This club is headquartered at Taunton.


11) Whilst most are club teams, here is a country which represents combined West Indies – the Trinidad and Tobago.


This is an archipelagic state in the South Carribean and is a Nation. This country has an area of 5128 sq km. Of the two, Tobago islands are much smaller comprising of about 6% of total area and 4% of the entire population which is around 1.3 million. !!!!!!!


12) Wayamba is from the land of Lankans 


The teams are grouped in to 4 in the initial league stage


Group A  :  DC,  Somerset,  Trinidad
Group B  :  NSW, Diamond Eagles, Sussex
Group C  :  RCB, Cape Cobras, Otago volts
Group D  :  DD, Victoria, Wayamba.



Here is the schedule :

In the second round, the two qualifiers are divided in two leagues and would play two matches for qualifying for the Semis.   The grand final will unfold at 8 pm on Oct 23 (Friday) at Hyderabad.






With regards


S Sampathkumar.