Sammy baffled by lack of English T20 league

West Indies all rounder Darren Sammy has expressed confusion about England's lack of big-money Premier League, saying he and other players often spoke about the founders of the format getting an 'EPL' going.

West Indies all rounder Darren Sammy has expressed confusion about England's lack of big-money Premier League, saying he and other players often spoke about the founders of the format getting an 'EPL' going.

Sammy played for Glamorgan over the past few weeks, and before that was playing in the Indian Premier League. His next big stop is the Caribbean Premier League, and feels such tournaments are good for the host nations.

England does have the T20 Blast, but that is played in conjunction with regular season and not in one fixed block, and Sammy feels a concentrated schedule would make for more excitement.

Sammy told <i>Cricinfo</i>: "While I have been here a lot of the guys have spoken about it. I just thought England invented T20 and I'd have thought you'd have an England Premier League.

"If you look at the Big Bash, the IPL, and even the CPL they keep on improving. A tournament like that should be played over a block of time. I'm not an organiser, but as a player that is how I would want it.

"All the other leagues, they've been able to attract world-class players. But you could sit and talk and come up with loads of different ideas. At the end of the day it's about people buying into what is done in each country."

He added of the benefits of having big names teaching local youngsters: "If you look at the IPL, the prime model I suppose for T20, and look at the performances of the Indian players this year it has been tremendous.

"Maybe it's the influence of having all that international experience in the dressing room. When you watch someone like a Dale Steyn bowling with the Indian bowlers, the feedback they get is priceless.

"Indian players look forward to rubbing shoulders with those internationals. And then you have the mentors like VVS Laxman with all their knowledge."

While there has only been one edition of the CPL so far, Sammy was encouraged by the way fans took to it after some initial resistance, saying: "When it was Windward Islands, Barbados, Trinidad and the like, a Barbados versus Trinidad rivalry was always big and it took a while to match that in the CPL.

"Change is not always welcome, but I think we've got through that and the response of the fans last year shows they are buying into what franchise cricket is about.

"Fans want to see good, competitive cricket and that's what the CPL provided last year. It has been great to see full houses, every cricketer dreams of playing in front of large numbers."

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