Sharjah set to relaunch with Twenty20 tournament

KARACHI, Aug 14 (Reuters) The Cricketers Benefit Fund Series (CBFS) has announced plans to relaunch Sharjah as an international venue with a Twenty20 club championships early next year.

The gulf desert stadium has held more than 100 one-dayers and four tests, but international cricket has not been played there since April 2003 when it hosted a quadrangular tournament featuring Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and Kenya.

''We want to have international cricket again at our ground and we will be inviting the champion Twenty20 teams from test playing nations sometime in January before the World Cup,'' CBFS official Zahid Noorani told Reuters today.

''The tournament is on and we have started making preparations,'' he added.

Pakistan, Sri Lanka, England and South Africa all hold annual domestic Twenty20 cup tournaments and the West Indies recently completed its inaugural competition.

Noorani added that the CBFS had not been able to hold matches for the last three years due to a hectic international calendar and problems with dates while inviting top teams.

REUTERS PDS RS1317