It has just been announced that South Africa is set to be the host of this year’s Champions League T20 in October. Cape Town, Johannesburg, Centurion, and Durban, are the chosen venues for the most lucrative club-cricket tournament in the world, now into its fourth year.

This will also be the second time that we will host the Champions League T20 (CLT20) – the last time was in 2010.

Sundar Raman, a member of the CLT20’s technical committee, tweeted the exciting news a little over an hour ago:

India had been the host in the other two years, and were originally frontrunners to hold the competition in 2012 as well.

But the governing council of the CLT20 had met last month in an attempt to finalise the format and venue of this season’s tournament.

They hadn’t been able to reach a decision.

ESPN reported that one confirmed change from last season is the inclusion of Sialkot Stallions, Pakistan’s domestic champions.

From ESPN:

The other teams which have made it to, at least the qualifying stage of the tournament, are: Kolkata Knight Riders, Chennai Super Kings, Delhi Daredevils, Mumbai Indians (all four from the IPL), Auckland Aces (from New Zealand), Trinidad and Tobago (from West Indies), Sydney Sixers, Perth Scorchers (both from Australia’s Big Bash League), Titans, Lions (both from South Africa). The representatives from Sri Lanka and England will be decided after next month’s Sri Lanka Premier League and the ongoing Friends Life T20.

T20 cricket seems to be dominating the South African cricket landscape at the moment after it was announced that there will be no traditional Boxing Day Test match, but instead a T20 match.

[Sources: ESPN, Twitter]