Schedule

Today

Auckland Aces v Boost Defenders, 4pm Yorkshire Vikings v Lahore Qalanders, 8pm

Tomorrow

Hobart Hurricanes v Lahore Qalanders, 3pm Multiply Titans v Boost Defenders, 7pm

Saturday

Yorkshire Vikings v Hobart Hurricanes, 11am Multiply Titans v Auckland Aces, 3pm Final, 8pm from the captains of all these teams,” Boucher said.

“It is an opportunity for us to learn how to be at the centre of World Cricket. We will be looking to improve for 2019 and that’s what we did to the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship in 2006, the triathlon which is top-class [change] event now and so on.”

Albie Morkel, skipper of South Africa’s Titans, said: “This concept is similar to the Champions League and hopefully, this will grow into a much bigger tournament. It is very important for world cricket as a lot of guys can put their hands up in the leagues and good for franchise cricket around the world. It’s a great opportunity for domestic players to see where they are.”

Yorkshire skipper Steven Patterson was excited to be here in the capital towards the end of their season.

“We have come to the close of our season and played a lot of good cricket and feel our skills are in good place,” he said.

“You would say it would give us a slight advantage in that sense. We have played a lot of cricket and ready to go. On the flip side, we have come from a country where it’s 4 or 5 degrees to 40 degrees and it is a different climate to which we have to adjust to. There are six good teams and whoever plays well on the day, deservedly wins.”

Afghanistan’s Defenders captain Colin Ingram felt the tournament