Hussain: Twenty20 Cup will be exciting - Sport in brief - Evening Standard
       

Hussain: Twenty20 Cup will be exciting

Former England captain Nasser Hussain believes the riches on offer in the Champions League will help to create an unprecedented level of interest in the Twenty20 Cup.

The ex-Essex batsman has likened this year's cup semi-finals to football's play-offs, given that the two winners will have a chance to play for vast sums of money in the new tournament.

"Sport is better when there is something big hanging on the outcome. The higher the stakes, the more intense the pressure and the more the character of the players is revealed," Hussain wrote in his Daily Mail column.

"The winners of the cup get something like £40,000 but the two counties who reach the final will have the chance to earn £2.4million from the Champions League, so can you imagine the atmosphere if a team need four from the last ball in one of those semi-finals?

"What we will see is the cricketing equivalent of the football play-off final, with the winners going to the Premier League."

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