Hampshire have been given the chance to play in their first overseas Twenty20 tournament in the new year.

The Hampshire Royals missed out on the Twenty20 Champions League place after winning the Friends Provident t20 in August because it clashed with the end of the LV= County Championship season.

But they are set to compete in the West Indies in January after being invited to join the Caribbean T20 tournament.

The West Indies Cricket Board has had to postpone its launch of the Twenty20 Calypso Cup, which was supposed to include teams from the Indian Premier League and Australia’s Big Bash as well as the Friends Provident t20 finalists, because of “ongoing financial challenges”.

But the involvement of FP t20 winners Hampshire and runners-up Somerset will add some star quality to the Caribbean’s domestic tournament, which is expected to start soon after the last Ashes Test finishes on January 7. Hampshire chairman Rod Bransgrove said: “I’m still waiting for the exact dates but the competition is a hybrid of the West Indies’ old Twenty20 competition and the Calypso Cup."

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