CANADA GLOBAL T20: All you need to know about the Toronto tournament

Canada’s first ever T20 franchise competition gets going this week and The Cricketer has all the whos, whats, wheres and whens...

^{Steve Smith and David Warner feature in the Canada Global T20 League}

Canada’s first ever T20 franchise competition gets going this week and The Cricketer has all the whos, whats, wheres and whens…

WHAT IS IT?

Pay attention, dummy. It’s the Canada Global T20 League - the latest franchise cricket tournament.

WHERE IS IT TAKING PLACE?

Canada, of course. Toronto to be precise. And to be militarily precise… the Maple Leaf Cricket Ground (capacity 7,000).

WHEN DOES IT START?

The first game is scheduled for Thursday, June 28 and the competition is set to run for almost three weeks through until the final on July 15.

You can see all the fixtures right here.

WHO IS PLAYING?

Six sides take to the field for the competition. They are Vancouver Knights, Toronto Nationals, Montreal Tigers, Edmonton Royals, Winnipeg Hawks and a representative team from Cricket West Indies.

DO I KNOW ANY OF THE PLAYERS?

Oh yes. There are some big names about, none more so than the Australian duo of David Warner and Steve Smith, currently banned from playing for their country after the ball-tampering scandal in South Africa.

Also look out for big-hitters in the shape of Shahid Afridi and Chris Gayle, as well as a handful of well-travelled T20 journeyman.

Find the full squad listings by clicking here.

^{Chris Gayle plays for Vancouver Knights}

WHAT’S THE FORMAT?

A round-robin group stage finishes with the top four playing each other in the play-offs and, ultimately, producing a champion.

IS IT ON TV IN THE UK?

You betcha. FreeSports UK have announced they are to broadcast coverage of all 22 matches in the competition.

You can find FreeSports UK on Sky (channel 422), Freeview (channel 95), FreeSat (channel 252), TalkTalkTV (channel 95) and BT (channel 95).

Their show starts at 8.50pm BST on Thursday ahead of the first match’s 9pm start.

WHAT’S THE FORECAST?

Pretty good. Temperatures are due to range from 28 to 32 degrees Celsius over the first week of the tournament, though there might be a little rain early on.

Longer-range is a little harder for our meteorologist friends to predict but temperatures are set to stay in the high 20s.

WHAT ARE THE ODDS?

If you really fancy a flutter on this it seems as though the bookies make Vancouver Knights the favourites, with most pricing them at 3/1. The rank outsiders are the Windies XI - ranging from 7s to 10s.

But who knows where the value is.

THANKS VERY MUCH

You’re most welcome.