The 2019 European Cricket League (abbreviated as ECL19) was the inaugural edition of the European Cricket League. It was held in July 2019 with eight European champion club teams.[1][2] At ECL19, the domestic club champions of Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Romania, Russia and Spain all competed for the chance to become club cricket's European champions. Players from 18 European nations as well as from more traditional cricket-playing nations took part. The league has adopted the T10 format and was played over three days. The La Manga Club in Cartagena, Murcia, Spain hosted the tournament, which was staged between July 29 and July 31, 2019.[3]
| Dates | 29 – 31 July 2019 |
|---|---|
| Administrator(s) | European Cricket Network |
| Cricket format | T10 |
| Tournament format(s) | Group stage and knock-out |
| Host(s) |  Spain |
| Champions | VOC Rotterdam (1st title) |
| Runners-up | SG Findorff |
| Participants | 8 |
| Matches | 17 |
| Player of the series |  Max O'Dowd |
| Most runs | Scott Edwards (233) |
| Most wickets | Syed Sherazi (9) |
| Official website | European Cricket Network |
Tournament Play / Broadcast at ECL19
editPacking 17 matches into a T10 format over three days, every match was televised live in Europe, Asia, North America and Australasia across a combination of broadcast, digital and social channels, including the newly-launched European Cricket Network.[4] Over 100 countries worldwide broadcast coverage including the UK, Australia, India, Middle East, UAE, France, Germany, Turkey, Spain, United States, Canada and the Caribbean. Teams were split into two groups of four with matches being played on a round-robin basis in La Manga with the top two from each progressing to contest the semi-finals and final.
The current ECL title holders are V.O.C Rotterdam of the Netherlands, who won the inaugural 2019 season, beating SG Findorff (Bremen) from Germany in the final.[5][6]
Participating teams
edit
Eight clubs from across Europe participated in the inaugural edition.[7]
Svanholm Cricket Club, Brøndby
Dreux Cricket Club, Dreux
Sportgemeinschaft Findorff, Bremen
Janjua Cricket Club, Brescia
Volharding Olympia Combinatie, Rotterdam
Cluj Cricket Club, Cluj-Napoca
St. Petersburg Lions, Saint Petersburg
Catalunya Cricket Club, Girona
Group stage
editGroup A
edit| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | Pts | NRR | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | V.O.C. Rotterdam
|
3 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 3.450 | Advanced to semi-finals |
| 2 |  Svanholm Cricket Club
|
3 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 1.740 | |
| 3 |  Dreux Cricket Club
|
3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1.170 | Advanced to 5th place playoff |
| 4 |  Cluj Cricket Club
|
3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | −6.060 | Advanced to 7th place playoff |
Fixtures
editDreux Cricket Club
98/7 (10 overs) |
v
|
V.O.C. Rotterdam 99/2 (7.4 overs) |
Muhammad Bhatti 37* (23)
Pierce Fletcher 2/19 (2 overs) |
Max O'Dowd 53 (22)
Mohammad Shahzeb 1/8 (0.4 overs) |
- V.O.C. Rotterdam won the toss and elected to bowl.
Dreux Cricket Club
60/9 (10 overs) |
v
|
Svanholm Cricket Club 63/1 (6.3 overs) |
Mohammad Shahzeb 14* (13)
Zeeshan Khan 3/10 (2 overs) |
Zishan Shah 35* (23)
Yaseen Afridi 1/21 (2 overs) |
- Dreux CC won the toss and elected to bat.
Cluj Cricket Club
87/5 (10 overs) |
v
|
V.O.C. Rotterdam 88/2 (5.3 overs) |
Taranjeet Singh 42 (26)
Max O'Dowd 1/4 (1 over) |
- V.O.C. Rotterdam won the toss and elected to bowl.
Dreux Cricket Club
164/6 (10 overs) |
v
|
Cluj Cricket Club 69/5 (10 overs) |
Ahmad Nabi 105 (30)
Muhammad Ahmed 2/11 (1 over) |
Satwik Nadigotla 27* (25)
Wahid Abdul 3/9 (2 overs) |
- Cluj CC won the toss and elected to bowl.
Cluj Cricket Club
75/7 (10 overs) |
v
|
Svanholm Cricket Club 76/0 (8.2 overs) |
Taranjeet Singh 35 (18)
Zeeshan Khan 2/10 (2 overs) |
Zishan Shah 53* (34)
|
- Svanholm CC won the toss and elected to bowl.
V.O.C. Rotterdam
133/7 (10 overs) |
v
|
Svanholm Cricket Club 126/8 (10 overs) |
Corey Rutgers 29* (7)
Zeeshan Khan 2/36 (2 overs) |
- Svanholm CC won the toss and elected to bowl.
Group B
edit| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | Pts | NRR | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  SG Findorff
|
3 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 0.690 | Advanced to semi-finals |
| 2 | Catalunya Cricket Club
|
3 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 1.060 | |
| 3 |  St. Petersburg Lions
|
3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | −4.790 | Advanced to 5th place playoff |
| 4 |  JCC Brescia†
|
3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3.570 | Advanced to 7th place playoff |
† Lost all points due to player eligibility infringement.[8]
Catalunya Cricket Club
128/5 (10 overs) |
v
|
St. Petersburg Lions 62/7 (10 overs) |
Muhammad Mughal 76 (27)
Vijay Gautam 3/12 (2 overs) |
Rinku Singh 24 (20)
Syed Sherazi 3/5 (2 overs) |
|toss=Catalunya CC won the toss and elected to bat.
Catalunya Cricket Club
118/2 (10 overs) |
v
|
JCC Brescia 120/4 (8.3 overs) |
Muhammad Khan 63* (32)
Muhammad Iqbal 1/21 (2 overs) |
Muhammad Jafri 38 (15)
Muhammad Mughal 2/19 (2 overs) |
|toss=Catalunya CC won the toss and elected to bat.
† JCC Brescia initially won all their matches, but were later found breaching the player eligibility criteria and thus their opponents were declared winners.
SG Findorff
97/5 (10 overs) |
v
|
JCC Brescia 99/2 (5.5 overs) |
Ahmed Wardak 37 (25)
Zahid Cheema 1/17 (2 overs) |
Muhammad Jafri 59 (17)
Israr Khan 2/15 (2 overs) |
|toss=JCC Brescia won the toss and elected to bowl.
† JCC Brescia initially won all their matches, but were later found breaching the player eligibility criteria and thus their opponents were declared winners.
St. Petersburg Lions
53/8 (10 overs) |
v
|
SG Findorff 59/2 (6 overs) |
Vijay Gautam 18 (23)
Iftikhar Khan 2/12 (2 overs) |
Israr Khan 25* (17)
Lalit Lalit 1/14 (2 overs) |
- St. Petersburg Lions won the toss and elected to bat.
JCC Brescia
116/7 (10 overs) |
v
|
St. Petersburg Lions 91/6 (10 overs) |
Muhammad Jafri 40 (15)
Lalit Lalit 3/10 (2 overs) |
Anil Singh 35 (13)
Muhammad Iqbal 2/30 (2 overs) |
- St. Petersburg Lions won the toss and elected to bowl.
† JCC Brescia initially won all their matches, but were later found breaching the player eligibility criteria and thus their opponents were declared winners.
Catalunya Cricket Club
115/7 (10 overs) |
v
|
SG Findorff 116/4 (8.4 overs) |
Rauf Zaman 41* (16)
Iftikhar Khan 2/11 (2 overs) |
Ammar Khalid 45* (15)
Syed Sherazi 3/24 (2 overs) |
- SG Findorff won the toss and elected to bowl.
Minor play-offs
edit7th place playoff
editCluj Cricket Club
84/7 (10 overs) |
v
|
JCC Brescia 86/4 (9.1 overs) |
Vasu Saini 25 (14)
Zain ul Abdeen 2/15 (2 overs) |
Shahrukh Nawaz 25* (15)
Gaurav Mishra 2/10 (2 overs) |
- Cluj CC won the toss and elected to bat.
5th place playoff
editDreux Cricket Club
82/7 (10 overs) |
v
|
St. Petersburg Lions 70/7 (10 overs) |
Niaz Hamza 22 (16)
Rinku Singh 2/18 (2 overs) |
Anil Singh 34 (22)
Muhammad Bhatti 3/4 (2 overs) |
- Dreux CC won the toss and elected to bat.
Playoffs
editSemi-finals
editSemi-final 1
editCatalunya Cricket Club
129/5 (10 overs) |
v
|
V.O.C. Rotterdam 133/1 (7.4 overs) |
Yasir Ali 45 (15)
Jelte Schoonheim 2/12 (1 over) |
Scott Edwards 55 (15)
Syed Sherazi 1/21 (2 overs) |
- Catalunya CC won the toss and elected to bat.
2nd Semi-final
editSvanholm Cricket Club
88/4 (10 overs) |
v
|
SG Findorff 94/3 (8.5 overs) |
Mads Henriksen 27 (11)
Israr Khan 2/10 (2 overs) |
Aziz Dawodzy 25 (13)
Zeeshan Khan 1/10 (2 overs) |
- SG Findorff won the toss and elected to bowl.
Final
editV.O.C. Rotterdam
222/0 (10 overs) |
v
|
SG Findorff 121/9 (10 overs) |
Scott Edwards 137* (39)
|
Farooq Amirie 45 (17)
Dirk van Baren 3/8 (1 over) |
- SG Findorff won the toss and elected to bowl.
Player of the Tournament
editMax O'Dowd of V.O.C. Rotterdam was awarded “Player of the Tournament” at the 2019 European Cricket League. O’Dowd scored 219 runs in five innings (2 not outs) at an average of 73 and strike rate of 263.86, including an undefeated 74 in the final against SG Findorff. He also took four wickets in the tournament with his leg-break bowling with a best of 2-25 against Catalunya Cricket Club in the semi-final. O’Dowd is a current Netherlands international.[9][10][11]
Pavel Florin at ECL19
editThe inaugural tournament gained significant worldwide prominence after the remarkable performances of Cluj all-rounder Pavel Florin during the group stages.[12] Florin, a 40-year-old professional bodyguard and president of Cluj Cricket Club in Romania, caused a stir after his bowling performance went viral on social media. Many of the sport's most famous figures, including Australian legend Shane Warne, expressed their support and admiration of Florin because of his pure unaffected love for the game.[13][14][15][16][17][18][19] Florin has since gone on to play in Australia where he again hit the headlines over the winter. Florin will take part in the second-staging of the European Cricket League - ECL20 - with Cluj Cricket Club, Romania.
References
edit- ^ Cronin, Ben (6 November 2019). "European Cricket League adds five new teams". SportBusiness. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
- ^ "La Manga club to host ECL20". European Cricket League. 25 December 2019. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
- ^ "European Cricket League – Live Streaming Details, Fixtures, Schedule, Stadium, Squads, Match Timings". News Nation. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
- ^ "ECN - European Cricket Network". ecn.cricket. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
- ^ "'Can't believe it': 28 sixes in 10 overs". NewsComAu. 31 July 2019. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
- ^ "Champions Leagues - contrasting visions for European cricket's future". Cricbuzz. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
- ^ "First European Cricket League set for huge global audience". realwire. 29 July 2019. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
- ^ Mark Lovell (31 July 2019). "Brescia forfeits games due to ineligible player". European Cricket League. Retrieved 12 February 2020.
- ^ "ECN - European Cricket Network". ecn.cricket. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
- ^ "Max O'Dowd". Cricinfo. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
- ^ "Ryan Campbell announces squad for T20 World Cup Qualifier". KNCB. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
- ^ Ramakrishnan, Vineet (27 August 2019). "How the Champions League model and Pavel Florin made the European Cricket League a success story". Cricket Country. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
- ^ Masters, James. "European Cricket League: Pavel Florin gets backing from Shane Warne". CNN. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
- ^ "'I love cricket': Video of Romanian bowler goes viral". cricket.com.au. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
- ^ "Is this the most unusual bowling action you have ever seen?". BBC Sport. 31 July 2019. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
- ^ "Pavel Florin: Twitter fame, Transylvania and a night at The Oval". thecricketer.com. Retrieved 11 February 2020.[permanent dead link]
- ^ League, Source: European Cricket (31 July 2019). "Pavel Florin: cricket's newest hero in action – video". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
- ^ Rehman, Sajawal. "This Romanian Bowler Has Become an Internet Sensation Due to His Bowling Action". propakistani.pk. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
- ^ "In Cluj? How about some cricket?". Hindustan Times. 11 August 2019. Retrieved 11 February 2020.