Bring back Champions League, says Gillespie

Yorkshire coach Jason Gillespie has proposed scrapping T20 internationals outside of the biannual World T20 tournament in favour of a resurrected Champions League.

As Britain's players continue to flit between formats for their domestic T20 competition in a crowded summer schedule, Gillespie says reviving the dormant Champions League, which was discontinued in 2014 after six seasons, could lift the global profile of local T20 teams.

And the former Aussie tearaway, who played just one T20 international in 2005, says the shortest format of the game with its sporadic programming could make way.

"If you think about it, there is not a great deal of T20 played internationally," Gillespie wrote in the Evening Standard.

"There are World Twenty20s but they are at least two years apart.

"While there may be T20 matches in bilateral series, there are not usually too many of them — and let’s face it, they’re a money-grab.

"Perhaps you don’t even need to have T20 matches between countries outside the World T20. Perhaps that would be the way to promote the Champions League and give it the status and profile it deserves.

"As was the case before it was halted, you would stage it in a three-week block in a single country.

"It’s a fantastic opportunity for the game and all involved should look closely at bringing it back.

"It doesn’t seem to be on the agenda at the moment, yet I think it would be a fantastic idea to revive it.

"I’m convinced it could be structured so players, administrators and media supported it.

"It’s a fantastic concept: bring in the best teams from the various T20 competitions around the world and establish which of them is best. What is not to like about that?"

The CLT20 was the brainchild of the boards of Australia, India and South Africa in 2008, with a 10-year multi-million dollar TV deal providing financial support and a lucrative prize purse for the competing teams.

However, poor attendances and television viewership dogged the tournament, despite the introduction of more Indian teams in attempt to boost popularity in the subcontinent.

By 2014 the tournament was on its last legs, with a decision the following year to end the event after six editions.

Despite the competition's issues, Cricket Australia Chief Executive Officer James Sutherland is an advocate of the concept.

"We believe there is genuine value in the concept of bringing clubs from different domestic T20 teams together for a world championship play-off," Sutherland told cricket.com.au.

"There were a number of very positive and successful aspects to the Champions League T20 event, but in the end it did not attract the fan support in attendance or viewership to maintain viability."

Australia played just the one T20 in 2015, but have played 10 so far this year with the World T20 in India, with another two on the Qantas Tour of Sri Lanka scheduled for 2016.

Sutherland said CA plans to address the scheduling of bilateral tours with the ICC to get the best out of each format.

"We will continue to explore new opportunities but our immediate priority is to work with ICC and member countries on the review into the structure of bilateral cricket to ensure that each of the three international formats continue to be strongly supported by cricket fans," he said.

"We are also keen to see that cricket enjoys strong growth in interest and popularity in developing cricket markets – and remain open-minded about how this review may address this challenge."