Middlesex look primed to make a tantalising move from hitting boundaries to crossing them, after entering discussions with the Pakistan Cricket Board about the possibility of having a team in the Pakistan Super League, the country’s high-profile domestic Twenty20 competition.
While discussions have so far been positive they remain in the preliminary stages, and there is no prospect of Middlesex being involved in this year’s competition which starts next month. The tournament runs between mid-February and late March, falling conveniently during English counties’ pre-season preparations, and should negotiations reach a successful conclusion could become part of Middlesex’s from 2024.
“The PCB are interested in including overseas domestic teams in the PSL and we have held talks with them,” the Middlesex chief executive, Andrew Cornish, told The Cricketer. “Those talks have been very positive and we expect them to continue in the coming weeks.”
The PCB is willing to waive the fee other teams have had to pay in order to participate in the competition, given the potential commercial opportunities that the involvement of an English first-class county would present. The PSL is broadcast in the UK by Sky, under a three-year deal agreed in 2021.
Middlesex appear an unlikely target for the PCB, given they have only once won England’s domestic T20 tournament, and that solitary success came 15 years ago. That was the only occasion they have progressed beyond the quarter-finals; last year they lost 10 of their 14 matches and finished eighth of nine teams in the southern group.
They had more success in first-class cricket, winning promotion to Division One in the County Championship with their team bolstered by the recruitment of Shaheen Shah Afridi, Pakistan’s most high-profile player. In Lord’s they have the most famous and prestigious of home grounds, with the potential for reciprocal event-hosting opportunities likely to form part of discussions.
