The long-awaited — if not much-anticipated — European T20 Premier League (ETPL) will debut in Voorburg near The Hague this afternoon when Amsterdam Flames take on the Rotterdam Dockers.

An all-Ireland clash between Dublin Guardians and Belfast Wolves is second up tomorrow morning (THURS) followed by a third ‘derby’ between Edinburgh Castle Rockers and Glasgow Cosmic to complete the first slew of matches.

The fun continues at the same ground in the Netherlands for 12 days before the six franchises move to Malahide in north Dublin where the tournament will be played to a conclusion on September 20.

Frustrating would be one word to describe the seven years’ worth of attempts to launch a vehicle that ambitiously aims to expand the popularity of cricket across Europe — shambolic would be another.

Originally billed as the Euro Slam the first tournament failed to go ahead in 2019. Then came Covid and three more postponements.

The Euro Slam morphed into the ETPL and, despite another false start last year, it was clear it would finally get off the ground when luminaries such as Steve Waugh and Indian great Rahul Dravid put their names to the venture during the winter.

While it’s hard to see how the franchise backers from India and Australia will get an immediate return on their investment — with minimal advertising and no TV deal — the coaches and players have fully bought into the concept.

Former international John Mooney, who is on the coaching staff of the Guardians, is already eyeing a place in the play-offs for his team that is captained by Indian veteran Ravi Ashwin and includes Harry Tector, Josh Little and George Dockrell.

“We have a good bunch of lads,” Mooney said. “I think we’ve got every base covered with regard to batting, bowling and fielding, and if we can get into the play-offs, then hopefully you win one or two games and you’re champions.

“I really hope this is the start of something bigger and that the Guardians become almost the guardians of Dublin cricket.

“You’d love to see the franchise creating links with clubs like North County and Clontarf, who hosted our training camp last week, and helping to improve the infrastructure around those clubs. 

“It really feels like something good is happening here.”