The second season of the global T20 Canada League will begin from July 25 this year and the first match of the tournament will see defending champions Vancouver Knights taking on Toronto Nationals.

The tournament has been scheduled earlier this season to avoid clashing with the Euro T20 slam will start at the end of August this year. The inaugural season had started in June last year, ESPN Cricinfo reported.

The league will end a week before the ICC America's Regional T20 qualifier-final, which will also feature Canada's players.

"I was there to see the first edition of the league and was enormously impressed with the overall quality of cricket. Despite a few hiccups, Cricket Canada and GT20 team delivered an outstanding event," ESPN Cricinfo quoted Brian Lara, the brand ambassador of the league as saying.

"The hallmark of the event was a local boy Saad Bin Zafar winning the Man of the Match in the all-important finals in the presence of stars like Chris Gayle and Andre Russell. It proves that cricketers from these countries need these kinds of endeavours to prove their talent. I hope GT20 season two will take cricket to greater heights in the North America region," he added.

The first season of the Global T20 Canada saw some prominent cricketing figures taking part in the tournament. Chris Gayle, Andre Russell, David Warner, and Steve Smith were all part of the inaugural season.

In the opening edition of the tournament, all matches were played at the Maple Leaf Cricket Club in Toronto and it is speculated that all the matches in the second season will also be held at the same venue.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)