Today's Edition
KUUMAR SHYAM (DUBAI)
The third season of the DP World International League Twenty20 (ILT20) tournament, the flagship cricket event in the UAE and the second-richest franchise league in the world of cricket, will focus on community involvement, a key official has told Aletihad in an exclusive interaction.
David White, former Test cricketer and ILT20 Chief Executive Officer David White, took time off at the ICC Academy grounds in Dubai Sports City to speak to this paper from the sidelines of a Junior Cricket Festival, held over two days this weekend.
The venue is close to the stadium in Dubai which, along with Abu Dhabi and Sharjah, co-hosts matches of the ILT20 with six franchises involved.
Apart from a marketing push in the biggest market of all, India, White and his team have put plans in place to ensure the word spreads to the distant corners of the country after the first two seasons have focused on building the basic blocks.
"We have a 10-year deal with the broadcaster Zee [Network] out of which we are committed to having the six current franchises for at least five years of that," said White while ruling out a question if more franchises will be added in the near future.
"We are happy with the progress we made in the second edition, which I think was a big step up from Season 1. There has been a big increase in the crowds so we are looking to build on them. It was something the public saw on how there were fan zones and all that, but we are looking to really increase the community involvement," said White, formerly CEO of New Zealand Cricket.
A big part of this plan involves women and girls' cricket and the ILT20 strategists did not waste time when the ICC Women's T20 World Cup was held last month at short notice after original hosts Bangladesh could not host the showpiece event.
"Last year, we reached out to schools and other academic institutions and you could see that with more than 60,000 boys and girls coming for the matches. Their parents have been supporting them. And then we had activities involved around the Women's World Cup, too. We will continue to keep working with the community because they are the future fans."
After the inaugural year, the second season also built on the player base with the same spirit of widening their bases for solidity.
The format of the ILT20 promotes four players from the local market, and so the second season saw a Development Tournament which would allow players to put up their hand for selection.
An adjoining aspect saw the Schools Cup, won by Abu Dhabi's Cambridge High School, so the next generation of talent could be made available for the Development Tournament.
