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A new era for Irish cricket begins this week with the Belfast Wolves and the Dublin Guardians preparing for life in the new European T20 Premier League, while a host of other Irish players will represent other teams. The two Irish sides will meet in the Netherlands on Thursday, a day after the inaugural match between Rotterdam Dockers and Amsterdam Flames on Wednesday. Edinburgh Castle Rockers and Glasgow Cosmic will also meet on Thursday. The first phase of the round-robin takes place in The Hague before a second set of fixtures in Malahide, which also hosts the final of the franchise tournament on 20 September. A number of high-profile former players have linked up with the teams involved. Former Indian captain Rahul Dravid is involved with the Dublin Guardians while Australian Glenn Maxwell is co-owner and captain of the Belfast Wolves. A number of Irish players are involved across both squads. Gavin Hoey, Paul Stirling, Tim Tector, Matthew Humphreys, Mark Adair and Lorcan Tucker are part of the Belfast squad. Dublin boast Craig Young, Matthew Hollard, George Dockrell, Benjamin Calitz, Harry Tector and Joshua Little. Jai Moondra will play with Rotterdam, Ross Adair and Gareth Delany are with Edinburgh while Jordan Neill and Curtis Campher will represent Amsterdam. The latter pair can count legendary Australian Steve Smith as a team-mate.