The Australian Cricketers' Association is encouraging Australia to develop a Twenty20 competition that is similar to the Indian Premier League and could run in conjunction with the main tournament. Paul Marsh, the ACA's chief executive, has been in India to monitor the opening week of the IPL and said the expansion of the concept could follow soccer's model.
"The Indian league will be the Premier League, and then you have the Australian league as the second league, or even the English league," Marsh said in the Daily Telegraph. "Over time players could go and play in one of these leagues and then you'll have a situation where the ICC could license each league, get a return and distribute it to each of these boards."
The initial success of the IPL has other countries trying to think of ways to benefit financially from the concept. Support is also growing for the ICC to implement a set time each year for Twenty20 so it doesn't overlap with Test and one-day internationals.
"We need to find this window and then find how to get a return from it for each of the boards," Marsh said. "We might find a window and it opens a door for a whole lot of these leagues."
Marsh is also interested in the idea of an IPL team based in Australia. Michael Brown, Cricket Australia's general manager of cricket operations, has said the franchise idea would be considered.
Brown told AAP on Tuesday the start of the IPL had been "outstanding". "It's fantastic for cricket - we're here in Melbourne in an incredible AFL environment, yet people are talking up cricket," he said. "That's a real positive for the game and the little bits I've caught from our players, it's been very successful."
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