• Kumar Sangakkara, Chris Gayle, Luke Wright, Shakib Al Hasan, JP Duminy, 
• Shahzad Mohammed, Brendon Taylor and Luke Ronchi up for UAE T20x Player Draft

Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Monday, 10 September 2018:   The newly launched UAE T20x franchise league has been built on the values of player development and international diversity- and today it highlights its commitment to this by revealing a snapshot of the global talent who have made themselves available for the player draft, scheduled to take place in November.

More than 100 players from England & Wales have registered for the player draft including T20 legend Luke Wright and big hitter Alex Hales, along with Ireland’s Paul Stirling and Kevin O’Brien.

Fans of Caribbean cricket will not be disappointed with the news that Chris Gayle, Kieron Pollard, Sunil Narine, Evin Lewis and two-time T20 World Cup winning captain Darren Sammy are keen to head to the UAE this winter too.

Joining South African Player Icon David Miller in the draft will be his fellow countrymen JP Duminy, Morne Morkel and right-arm spin bowler Imran Tahir. The African continent will also be represented by former Zimbabwean captain Brendan Taylor and Sikandar Raza. Names in the mix from New Zealand include limited overs specialist Colin Munro along with Luke Ronchi who animated the PSL earlier in the year and became its 2018 Player of the Tournament. 

Huge interest has come from the sub-continent with over 140 players showing their interest in taking one of the 80 spots at this year’s tournament. Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal and Mustafizur Rahman will be fan favourites, along with Afghanistan’s Shapoor Zadran and big hitter Shahzad Mohammed who currently holds the most number of T20 International Player of the Match awards by an associate member. 

Zayed Abbas, Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) Board Member and Official Spokesperson said: “As an ICC Associate Member, the ECB has put the growth of the sport at its heart, and a key aim of UAE T20x is to provide a platform where emerging talent can develop by playing with and against the biggest names in international cricket. It therefore goes without saying that we are delighted to see so many world class players putting themselves forward to be a part of our league and to support our vision.”
With 120 submitted names from over 10 Associate Member Nations, the smaller cricket playing countries will also be well represented in the draw for the inaugural tournament, which runs from 19th December – 11th January in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah. These currently include:

UAE: 28 players inc- Mohammad Naveed and Shaiman Anwar
Netherlands: 12 players inc- Ryan Ten Doeschate and Van der Merwe
Nepal: 8 players inc-Sandeep Lamichhane and Paras Khadka
Oman: 15 players inc- Zeeshan Maqsood and Jatinder Singh
Scotland: 7 players inc- Calum MacLoed and Matthww Cross
USA: 6 players inc- Ali Khan 
Canada: 8 players inc- Dilon Heylinger and Hamza Tariq
Hong Kong: 8 players inc- Babar Hayat and Ehsan Nawaz
Japan: 2 players inc- Shogo Kimura

In addition to these names, the league currently has a roster of over 350 current players, retired legends and experienced coaches from more than 20 cricket playing nations who have shown their interest in being picked for one of the five franchise teams.