The WACA have said that T20 cricket will not be prioritised despite the launch of the Champions League tournament.

The governing bodies from Australia, South Africa, India and England on Saturday confirmed plans for an eight-team tournament with the winner to receive US$5million.

Western Australia will join Australian Twenty20 champions Victoria in the inaugural competition during the autumn after they played in the final of last season's Big Bash tournament Down Under.

The large sums of money available for qualification to the tournament have raised speculation some teams may opt to focus on the shortest form of the game in order to help secure their financial future.

Graeme Wood, chief executive officer of the WACA, denied such a notion, telling PA Sport: "The Big Bash tournament is no more important than the four-day or one-day interstate competitions from our point of view.

"We aim to win every match we play in and set ourselves to win the Big Bash when the competition dominates the summer scheduling around the Christmas-New Year period."

Wood graduated to the international arena from the ranks at Western Australia, playing 59 Tests and 83 one-day international for Australia.

And while admitting the new tournament was an "exciting concept" he denied young players would be focused on playing Twenty20 cricket rather than the more traditional forms of the game.

"The stars are made in Test and first-class cricket, and that is where Twenty20 competitions will draw their players from, not the other way around," he said.

"Players will still want to prove themselves at the ultimate level of cricket, which will always be Test matches."

He added: "My reaction to the tournament is that it is a very exciting concept.

"It is a massive opportunity to take domestic cricket to a global stage and gives an added incentive for teams to do well in the Twenty20 Big Bash competition as they strive to reach the Champions Twenty20 and gain the rewards, which will be both financial and experience for players."

Wood pointed to the recent exploits of Warriors left-hander Shaun Marsh in Twenty20 cricket as an example of the benefit the game can have in the development of young players.

Marsh was the leading runscorer in the Big Bash competition last season before joining up with his Western Australia coach Tom Moody at the King's XI Punjab in the Indian Premier League where he took the 'Orange Cap' as the leading scorer.

Marsh will join the Australian team for the first time during their five one-day internationals against West Indies later this month and Wood said: "Playing against the best domestic teams and the best players in the world can only benefit those involved.

"Shaun Marsh dominated the Twenty20 Big Bash for the Western Warriors last summer and took that form with him to the IPL."