Global T20 Canada is a professional Twenty20 cricket tournament that is played in Canada. The first edition of the tournament took place during June and July 2018 with six teams competing. Each team featured four local Canadian cricketers in each squad, along with international players. The inaugural tournament in 2018 took place at the Maple Leaf Cricket Club in King City, Ontario, while the 2019, 2023 and 2024 tournaments took place at the Brampton Sports Park in proximity to the TD Cricket Arena in Brampton, Ontario. The league was founded by Bombay Sports Limited.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) sanctioned the tournament in February 2018, and it is the first fully sanctioned T20 league in North America outside of the Caribbean. Canada's Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, was pleased with the ICC's decision to approve the league. In May 2018, Cricket Canada announced that the inaugural edition of the tournament would be held from 28 June to 15 July at the Maple Leaf Cricket Club in King City, Ontario The Vancouver Knights won the tournament, beating West Indies B by seven wickets in the final.
The inaugural 2018 season was benefitted by the international suspensions of Australian players David Warner and Steve Smith, who were ineligible to represent Australia, and decided to ply their trade in the domestic Canadian competition. The 2019 league was held at the Brampton Sports Park grounds by TD Cricket Arena in Brampton, Ontario from 25 July to 11 August. The second-round game between Montreal Tigers and Toronto Nationals on 7 August was delayed for two hours in a protest over unpaid wages; some pay issues dated back to the 2018 tournament.
The protest occurred even though Toronto Nationals captain Yuvraj Singh's fundraiser for his YouWeCan Foundation, had been hosted two days earlier by League organizers. The third season of the tournament, scheduled to be held in 2020, was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic to 2021. Originally planned to be played in Brampton, it was later announced that it would be held from 24 June to 11 July 2021 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia due to ongoing pandemic restrictions in Canada.
Edmonton Royals were renamed as Surrey Jaguars. " The 2023 Global T20 Canada took place from 20 July to 6 August at the TD Cricket Arena by CAA Centre once again. The 2024 Global T20 Canada took place from 25 July to 11 August at the TD Cricket Arena by CAA Centre as well.
In December 2024, Cricket Canada terminated its agreement with Bombay Sports for breach of contract. Cricket Canada president Amjad Bajwa claimed that "the organizers have often been late with their payments and we couldn’t carry on in this fashion.
From the Wikipedia article "Global T20 Canada", available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
