Caribbean Premier League (CPL) Chief Executive Officer Pete Russell says the short-format 6IXTY cricket tournament will “certainly” return, even as increasingly tight international schedules leave little to no wiggle room for organisers.

The 6IXTY competition for both men’s and women’s franchises made its debut in August just ahead of the 10th staging of the CPL Twenty20 (T20) tournament, with the view that the ultra-concise 60-ball-per-side contests laced with creative tweaks are attractive to younger audiences.

“The 6IXTY will certainly be back, we are just working on the logistics of where it fits into the Cricket West Indies and global cricket schedules,” Russell told the Jamaica Observer, while noting there are bigger ambitions for the 6IXTY concept.

“We don’t envision the tournament being a precursor to CPL in the future, we see it sitting on its own with more than one 6IXTY tournament taking place each year,” he said, adding that plans are afoot to stage the 6IXTY “in the coming months”.

Though the 60-ball tournament is new to the CPL, it bears some similarity to other such competitions which are growing in popularity across the globe.

One marked difference with the 6IXTY is that each batting team has six wickets, rather than 10.

Among the host of innovations, batting teams can unlock a floating third powerplay over by hitting two sixes in the initial two-over powerplay. And also, fans are able to vote online for a mystery free hit.

And while some traditionalists might argue the 6IXTY isn’t really cricket, fans and players seemed to welcome the shorter format.

The CPL chief executive insisted the main challenge to both the 6IXTY and T20 competitions centres on the cricketing calendar.

“The continuing issue for us is finding a way to fit in the CPL into a very cluttered cricketing schedule. We are very happy with our current time slot in August and September, but this is still a busy time for cricket around the world, and only getting busier.

“We would like to find a way to give us a little more breathing space to make the tournament work, and this is something we are looking at,” he explained.

St Kitts and Nevis Patriots won the inaugural men’s 6IXTY, while Barbados Royals claimed the women’s edition.

Jamaica Tallawahs were crowned 2022 CPL T20 men’s champions for their third title, with Trinbago Knight Riders lifting the inaugural women’s T20 winners’ trophy.