Scotland to host first edition of the 'Scottish Super 10' in Aberdeen

Scotland will host the inaugural edition of the 'Scottish Super 10' in Aberdeen, with Men’s and Women’s tournaments taking place between August 16 to September 1.

The Scottish Super 10 will become the first international franchise cricket league in Europe outside of England, as Scotland showcases itself as a prominent venue for hosting franchise cricket as well as the powerful cricketing talent the country possesses.

Six men’s franchises – Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Inverness, Perth & Dundee – owned and operated by major private corporate houses from around the world will go head-to-head in Aberdeen across 34 T10 matches. The men’s squads will feature top Scottish and international talent, details of which will be announced at a press conference planned in Dubai during the last week of April.

The women’s tournament will feature two franchises with squads of 15 players, in what will be only the second women’s franchise tournament to take place in the UK. The two teams will face each other on the opening weekend – August 16, 17 and 18 – with the bulk of the squads being made up of current Scotland internationals, who’ll compete alongside selected international stars.

Three of the six men’s franchises are already sold, while international superstars planning to take the field in this prestigious event have already begun signing up.

Players already committed to competing in the Scottish Super 10 include Afghan superstars Rashid Khan and Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Zimbabwean all-rounder Sikander Raza, dashing Pakistani pacer Naseem Shah, English batsman Alex Hales, and Kiwi talent Finn Allen.

Rashid Khan, arguably one of the greatest white ball cricketers of all time said: "This is really exciting news, and I am looking forward to participating in a European league. The competition will surely bring great mileage to cricket in Scotland, and I congratulate the organisers for this."

Cricket Scotland has signed an agreement with USA-based 'Star 333 Sports' to own full IP, commercial and production rights for the event. Paul Macari, Cricket Scotland’s head of operations and commercial, said: "We are delighted to see franchise cricket coming to Scotland this summer. The Scottish Super 10 will bring a fast and exciting format of the game to Scotland and we look forward to our men’s and women’s national stars competing with players from all over the world."

Abhishek Shah, chairman of Star 333 Sports, said:It is particularly pleasing to see Star 333 committing to invest in the women’s game in Scotland with a tournament that will grow in the coming seasons. We are thrilled to partner up with Cricket Scotland and are committed to ensuring that this will be a great cricketing spectacle for global audiences, providing top notch entertainment, fueled by world-class production values. The tournament will feature some of the best men’s and women’s international cricketing talent and will be broadcast on major media platforms across the world. This August we will bring to life Scotland’s first franchise cricket tournament, and the biggest in Europe, outside of England."

Each men’s team squad will, like in the women’s competition, contain 15 players, with up to nine international players and six Scottish players in each squad. Each team will have two international marquee players while the rest will be selected via a player draft.

Player registrations open on 18 March via the league’s official website – www.scottishsuper10.com.

— Peeush Srivastava is an international media specialist with 25+ years of experience with Indian and international media platforms for maintaining diplomatic liaison and building strong and long-term relations with international organisations/corporate/govt bodies/business chambers.

• KT Network