The inaugural edition of the Euro T20 Slam has been postponed for a second year in a row due to COVID-19. The Board met recently and decided to move the launch to 2022. Cricket Ireland confirmed the news in an official release.
Cricket Ireland said that the main reasons for postponement were harder logistical challenges posed by new variations of the coronavirus along with rescheduled IPL, which encroached on the Euro T20 Slam's window.
"Last year we had agreed to tweak the structure of the competition - in response to the pandemic, envisioning the event being held in one country alone to minimize travel and negotiate various quarantining requirements. You only have to look at the impacts of the evolving pandemic on established competitions like the IPL and PSL, to see the complexity and uncertainty that still needs to be managed," said Warren Deutrom, Chief Executive at Cricket Ireland.
The franchise cricket tournament, involving six city-based franchises in Ireland, Scotland, and the Netherlands, was originally scheduled to start in 2019 but had to be postponed shortly before it started to 2020 and then had to be postponed in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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"While the vaccine roll-out has provided hope on the horizon, a combination of new variants, accommodation shortages in Ireland, and - possibly the most crucial element - the rescheduling of the IPL into the window envisaged to play the Euro T20 Slam - mean that the viability of getting a new event established in 2021 will not be possible.
While there may be a sense of disappointment for now - the further time now available will give the concept the best chance to succeed in the longer term. With a men's T20 World Cup approaching in October, the three participating cricket boards will investigate the feasibility of a tri-series, similar to that which was organized in 2019," he added.
Euro Slam T20 has signed international stars like England’s 2019 World Cup-winning captain Eoin Morgan, New Zealand’s Martin Guptill, South Africa fast bowler Dale Steyn, and Pakistan’s Shahid Afridi.
(Cricbuzz inputs)
