Clarke opts out of Champions League T20

Australian vice-captain Michael Clarke has opted out of the New South Wales (NSW) squad for the inaugural Champions League Twenty20 tournament in India next month citing heavy workload with the national team.

Clarke's decision to give USD 2.5 million Champions League Twenty20 a miss was no surprise as the right-hander had earlier made himself unavailable for first two editions of the lucrative Indian Premier League citing similar reasons.

However, inspite of Clark's absence, Cricket NSW has named a formidable squad with the likes Simon Katich, Nathan Bracken, Brett Lee, Stuart Clarke and David Warner up their ranks for the two-week long tournament which starts on October 8.

"The NSW squad has an excellent mixture of international experience and talented youngsters and I am very excited about our prospects going into a tournament that will showcase the NSW team on the world stage for the first time," Cricket NSW Chief Executive David Gilbert said while announcing the squad.

In its website, Cricket NSW also said that wicketkeeper batsman Brad Haddin's participation in the tournament is subject to medical clearance on his injured finger in the lead-up to the tournament. In case he is ruled out, Daniel Smith will replace him in the 15-member squad.

Katich-led NSW will represent Australia in the tournament along with Victoria, whom they defeated in the domestic Twenty20 final to qualify for the 12 team event.

The teams have been divided into four groups of three each with the top two sides from each group advancing into the next round robin stage. 

NSW will compete with English T20 Champions Sussex and South African domestic runners-up, the Diamond Eagles in the opening phase of the tournament. 

NSW squad: Simon Katich (captain), Aaron Bird, Doug Bollinger, Nathan Bracken, Stuart Clark, Brad Haddin (wk), Nathan Hauritz, Moises Henriques, Phillip Hughes, Brett Lee, Stephen O'Keefe, Ben Rohrer, Steven Smith, Dominic Thornely, David Warner.