The world's best players have been in high demand after the naming of the final squads to compete in next month's Nokia Champions League Twenty20 tournament in India. Eight players were initially chosen to represent more than one team in the tournament: Brett Lee (NSW/Kolkata), Jacques Kallis (Warriors/Kolkata), Kieron Pollard (Trinidad & Tobago/Mumbai), Brad Haddin (NSW/Kolkata), Dwayne Bravo (Trinidad & Tobago/Chennai) Doug Bollinger (NSW/Chennai), Davy Jacobs (Warriors/Mumbai) and Aiden Blizzard (South Australia/Mumbai).

Explaining the process for deciding which teams these players would represent, CLT20 Governing Council member and Director of Legal and Business Affairs, Dean Kino, said: "Players nominated by more than one team in the final squads were given 48 hours to advise us which team they would play for. Teams were then permitted to replace any player that withdrew from their squad and elected to play for another side. All eight players selected by multiple teams have elected to play for their 'away' team.

QUALIFIER

Each team will play two qualifying matches, and the top team in each Qualifying Pool, along with the next highest ranked team (decided on Points, then Net Run Rate), will go through to the Group stage.

The format and match schedule for the 2011 Champions League Twenty20 (CLT20) tournament and qualifying event has been announced, with a record 13 teams from around the world a chance to claim the most prestigious prize in domestic cricket. The tournament returns to India this year with matches in Chennai, Bengaluru and Kolkata, as well as a qualifying event in Hyderabad. The main tournament will run from 23 September-9 October with the Qualifier immediately beforehand from 19-21 September.

With seven teams already qualified (see below), a six-team qualifying event will be held for the first time to determine the final three participants. The six teams will be divided into two pools and the top team from each pool qualifies for the group stage, with the third team to be the next highest ranked team based on points and then net run rate.

The Champions League Twenty20 (CLT20) Governing Council has confirmed the format and dates for the 2011 tournament to be played in India, with more teams than ever before having a chance to win domestic T20's biggest prize.

The 10-team CLT20 will follow the same format as 2010 and will be held in Bengaluru, Chennai and Kolkata from 23 September to 9 October. Before the tournament kicks off however, a six-team event will be played in Hyderabad from 19-21 September to decide the final three teams that qualify for the main event.

A clinical performance from the Chennai spinners on a batting-friendly Wanderers track helped them restrict the Davy Jacobs - led Chevrolet Warriors to 128/7 before both openers struck half-centuries as the IPL champions coasted along to a comprehensive 8-wicket victory to be crowned winners of the 2010 Champions League T20. The Chennai Super Kings were playing together as a unit for one final time before the players disband ahead of the 2011 season auction, and it was a spirited performance that handed them a win they would cherish for a long time to come.

Both teams were expectedly unchanged going into the big final and with the pitch expected to assist batting; Davy Jacobs had no problems in choosing to bat on winning the toss. With a disciplined bowling attack at their disposal, the plan was clearly to put up a challenging score on the board and then pressurize the Chennai batting, who were chasing for the first time in the tournament.

Chennai Super Kings, the champions of the Indian Premier League, moved closer to the 2010 Champions League title after thrashing the Royal Challengers Bangalore by 52 runs in a rain interrupted semi-final match that had to be reduced to 17 overs a side. Batting first, Chennai started off sluggishly before rain interrupted the match. On resumption, Suresh Raina decided to take charge and he played a mind-blowing innings, scoring 94 runs off just 48 deliveries to take Chennai to 174 at the end of their 17 overs. The revised target for Bangalore was 176 but the Royal Challengers didn't get the start they would have liked. Chennai's bowlers performed exceptionally well as a unit and didn't allow any partnerships to develop. Consequently, Bangalore never really looked to be in the chase and in the end they fell well short. Chennai will become the first IPL team to play the final of the Champions League when they take the field in a couple of days. They did everything right in the semi-final and they will hope that they can replicate their performance on Sunday.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss for Chennai and decided to bat first. The Super Kings had Albie Morkel and Lakshmipathy Balaji returning to the playing XI, replacing Justin Kemp and Shadab Jakati respectively. Bangalore went in with the same side that had won them their last match against the Highveld Lions a few days ago.

Keep it simple was the message from both captains on Friday ahead of the Airtel Champions League Twenty20 (CLT20) semi-final between the Warriors and the South Australian Redbacks at Centurion on Saturday.

Warriors captain Davy Jacobs said his team would be focusing on their own game plans, which had taken them to victory in the Standard Bank Pro20 and had helped them to victory in three of their four pool matches in the CLT20. He acknowledged that this was probably the biggest game the Warriors had ever played, but said this would not change their approach.

The Wayamba Elevens from Sri Lanka met the Central Stags from New Zealand in the penultimate Champions League T20 group stage clash at St.George's Park, Port Elizabeth on Wednesday. The match that had nothing riding on it apart from pride with both sides having long been ruled out of contention for a semi-final berth after three successive defeats. The men from New Zealand went into the game as favourites owing to a few bright performances from them despite their defeats, while their Sri Lankan counterparts had looked pretty much woeful throughout the competition. The result though turned out to be quite the opposite as Wayamba coasted to a 74 run victory courtesy some breathtaking bowling as the Stags were routed for 70 in their attempt to chase a target of 145.

Wayamba won the toss and skipper Jehan Mubarak chose to bat first to try and get a decent target on the board. Mahela Jayawardene and Jeevantha Kulatunga walked out into the middle to get the proceedings underway for Wayamba. Kulatunga fell quite early for six runs trying to play a square drive to a slower delivery and hit the ball into the hands of Brendon Diamanti. The score after 3 overs was 17 for one and in the 6th over Jayawardene made the long walk back to the pavilion with 20 to his name, failing to clear Keiron Noema-Barnett at mid on. Mubarak walked out to the centre with the score at 42-2 and took control of the situation. Mubarak shared in a 43 run partnership with Mahela Udawatte. The duo batted cautiously and were barely scoring above 5 an over.