European T20 Premier League to start on August 26 with star players and high‑profile owners

The European T20 Premier League (ETPL) will begin on 26 August and run until 20 September, featuring high-profile international players and off-field involvement from Rahul Dravid and Steve Waugh. The opening fixture will see the Dublin and Belfast franchises face each other on Thursday.

The ETPL is being organised in collaboration with the cricket boards of Ireland, Scotland and the Netherlands and will comprise six teams. One franchise is based in Dublin and another is notionally based in Belfast; Rahul Dravid has been named as a co-owner of the Dublin franchise and Steve Waugh has invested in the competition. The tournament will use a double-round robin format across its pool stage.

The Belfast Wolves will be captained by Australian all-rounder Glenn Maxwell and have adopted the motto "family, fearless, and fun". Their batting line-up includes IPL veteran David Miller and New Zealand wicketkeeper Devon Conway, while the bowling attack features Chris Jordan, described in the announcement as a World Cup winner who has taken more T20 wickets for England than anyone not named Adil Rashid and is a former school‑mate of Rihanna. A local contingent includes Mark Adair, Matthew Humphreys and Ireland's one-day captain Paul Stirling, joined by Gavin Hoey, Tim Tector and Lorcan Tucker.

The Guardians have assembled an Irish core of Craig Young, Matthew Hollard, Josh Little, George Dockrell, Benjamin Calitz and Harry Tector. They will be supplemented by New Zealand's Daryl Mitchell, "fresh from his unbeaten Test century against England at Trent Bridge in June", and former India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin was announced as captain and mentor of the side in July.

The pool stage will be split between the Netherlands and Dublin, with the first half of fixtures played in the Netherlands and the second round taking place in Dublin. As a result, the Belfast, Glasgow and Edinburgh franchises will not host matches in their home cities in the inaugural season, although organisers have held talks about potentially staging games at Stormont in future seasons.

Other squad news includes Jordan Neill and Curtis Campher joining Amsterdam alongside Steve Smith, Mitchell Marsh and Tim David, while Jai Moondra was selected in the first round of the draft by Rotterdam Dockers and will team up with Faf Du Plessis. Gareth Delany and Ross Adair will represent the Edinburgh Castle Rockers, with Ross set to play against his brother Mark on 2 September.

The first Belfast versus Dublin derby is scheduled for Voorburg on Thursday, with the "reverse" fixture at Malahide in Dublin on 9 September, and the competition will continue through to the final pool matches concluding on 20 September.