NEW DELHI, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Australia all-rounder Glenn Maxwell and former captain Steve Waugh are among the franchise owners in a new European Twenty20 league, which will begin in August after two false starts.
Backed by the cricket boards of Ireland, Scotland and the Netherlands, and approved by the governing International Cricket Council, the European T20 Premier League's (ETPL) founders include Bollywood star Abhishek Bachchan.
"Mainland Europe is not known for cricket," Bachchan told Reuters from Sydney, where they unveiled owners of the three teams, including the Amsterdam franchise owned by a group that includes Waugh and Jamie Dwyer, a five-time International Hockey Federation player of the year.
"It's an opportunity to create a huge cricket ecosystem in and around Europe. With ETPL, we hope we can bring the magic of cricket euphoria to mainland Europe."
Maxwell is a co-owner of the Belfast franchise, while former New Zealand internationals Nathan McCullum and Kyle Mills bought theEdinburgh side.
The ICC has 33 members in Europe, most for any continent, including full members England and Ireland. Scotland and Netherlands have played World Cups, while Italy will make their T20 World Cup debut next month.
"Italy's World Cup qualification indicates Europe's interest in cricket, and cricket being in the 2028 Olympics is another boost for Europe," Bachchan said.
"We hope to turn ETPL into one of the top T20 leagues in the world."
Waugh hoped the Amsterdam franchise would inspire more kids to take up the game.
"Franchise cricket has the world's best players playing with locals," the two-time World Cup winner told Reuters.
"At Amsterdam, the Dutch players will have the opportunity to play alongside players like Mitchell Marsh, the current Australia T20 captain, or Steve Smith, one of the all-time greats of the game. You can't buy that kind of experience."
Initially conceived as Euro T20 Slam, the league could not take off in 2019 and its planned launch last year was delayed for the second time.
(Reporting by Amlan Chakraborty in New Delhi; editing by Christian Radnedge)
