The 2022 Valletta Cup was a Twenty20 International (T20I) cricket tournament held in Malta between 10 and 15 May 2022.[1] It was the third edition of the Valletta Cup. The venue for the series was the Marsa Sports Club in Marsa.[2] The participating teams were the hosts Malta along with Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Gibraltar, Hungary and Romania.[3] Malta were the defending champions having defeated Switzerland in the final of the 2021 edition.[4] Bulgaria and Gibraltar returned after finishing the 2021 tournament in third and fourth places, respectively.[2] The Czech Republic and Hungary last featured in the 2019 Valletta Cup, in which the Czechs beat a Hungary XI in the final.[5]
| Dates | 10 – 15 May 2022 |
|---|---|
| Administrator(s) | Malta Cricket Association |
| Cricket format | Twenty20 International |
| Tournament format(s) | Round-robin and final |
| Host(s) |  Malta |
| Champions |  Romania |
| Runners-up | Malta |
| Participants | 6 |
| Matches | 18 |
| Player of the series | Taranjeet Singh |
| Most runs | Taranjeet Singh (357) |
| Most wickets | Ijaz Hussain (11) |
In a round-robin game against Bulgaria, Gibraltar put on an unbeaten 213 runs for the first wicket, the fourth highest opening partnerships in men's T20Is.[6] Malta secured a place in the final on day three with a game to spare, after winning their first four matches.[7] Romania reached the final after a rapid run-chase against Gibraltar, and they went on to defeat the hosts by 9 runs in the final.[8][9]
Squads
edit Bulgaria
|
 Czech Republic[10]
|
 Gibraltar[11]
|
 Hungary
|
Malta
|
Romania
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
The Czech Republic also named Kranthi Venkataswamy and Neeraj Tyagi as reserves.[10]
Round-robin
editPoints table
edit| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | NR | Pts | NRR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Malta
|
5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 1.014 |
| 2 | Romania
|
5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 1.498 |
| 3 | Czech Republic
|
5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 1.237 |
| 4 | Hungary
|
5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 6 | −0.251 |
| 5 | Gibraltar
|
5 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 2 | −1.439 |
| 6 | Bulgaria
|
5 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | −2.115 |
Source: ESPNcricinfo[12]
- Advanced to the final
- Advanced to the third-place play-off
- Advanced to the fifth-place play-off
Fixtures
editv
|
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Avinash Pai 42 (39)
Amar Sharma 2/24 (4 overs) |
Basil George 36 (30)
Zachary Simpson 2/32 (2.5 overs) |
- Malta won the toss and elected to field.
- Jaison Jerome (Mlt), Samarth Bodha, Mark Gouws, Zachary Simpson and Matthew Whelan (Gib) all made their T20I debuts.
v
|
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Basil George 60 (36)
Asanka Weligamage 3/45 (4 overs) |
Harshvardhan Mandhyan 41 (25)
Waseem Abbas 2/25 (4 overs) |
- Hungary won the toss and elected to field.
- Bhavani Adapaka, Abhishek Ahuja, Ali Farasat and Akramullah Malikzada (Hun) all made their T20I debuts.
v
|
||
Kieron Ferrary 24 (22)
Sandeep Mohandas 2/31 (4 overs) |
Harshvardhan Mandhyan 29 (27)
Samarth Bodha 3/26 (3.4 overs) |
- Hungary won the toss and elected to field.
v
|
||
Taranjeet Singh 63 (44)
Amar Sharma 1/33 (4 overs) |
Basil George 37 (22)
Ijaz Hussain 2/25 (3 overs) |
- Malta won the toss and elected to field.
- Gaurav Mishra and Sukhkaran Sahi (Rom) both made their T20I debuts.
v
|
||
Sabawoon Davizi 98* (61)
Kieron Ferrary 1/9 (3 overs) |
Andrew Reyes 44 (41)
Sazib Bhuiyan 2/20 (3 overs) |
- Czech Republic won the toss and elected to bat.
- Sazib Bhuiyan, Shubhranshu Chaudhary, Divyendra Singh, Dylan Steyn and Ritik Tomar (Cze) all made their T20I debuts.
v
|
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Abishek Kheterpal 42 (35)
Hristo Lakov 2/15 (4 overs) |
Saim Hussain 54 (43)
Bhavani Adapaka 3/29 (4 overs) |
- Bulgaria won the toss and elected to field.
- Saim Hussain, Sandeep Nair (Bul) and Gabor Torok (Hun) all made their T20I debuts.
v
|
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Basil George 51 (41)
Satyajit Sengupta 3/35 (4 overs) |
Arun Ashokan 30 (17)
Amar Sharma 3/24 (3 overs) |
- Czech Republic won the toss and elected to field.
- Imran Ameer (Mlt) and Sharan Ramakrishnan (Cze) both made their T20I debuts.
v
|
||
Sabawoon Davizi 115* (59)
Hristo Lakov 2/49 (4 overs) |
Hristo Lakov 61 (51)
Naveed Ahmed 3/29 (4 overs) |
- Czech Republic won the toss and elected to bat.
- Dylan Steyn (Cze) scored his first century in T20Is.[13]
v
|
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Vasu Saini 47 (32)
Harshvardhan Mandhyan 3/30 (4 overs) |
Zahir Mohammed 78 (42)
Ijaz Hussain 2/16 (3 overs) |
- Romania won the toss and elected to bat.
v
|
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Louis Bruce 99* (63)
|
Saim Hussain 64 (31)
Samarth Bodha 2/18 (3 overs) |
- Gibraltar won the toss and elected to bat.
- Karthik Pillai (Bul) and Christian Rocca (Gib) both made their T20I debuts.
- The opening partnership for Gibraltar between Avinash Pai and Louis Bruce was the first time that a team had batted a full 20 overs without losing a wicket in a men's T20I.[14]
v
|
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Taranjeet Singh 110 (61)
Naveed Ahmed 2/34 (4 overs) |
Arun Ashokan 49 (40)
Ijaz Hussain 4/28 (4 overs) |
- Romania won the toss and elected to bat.
- Taranjeet Singh (Rom) scored his first century in T20Is.[13]
v
|
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Kevin D'Souza 43 (33)
Ijaz Hussain 2/22 (4 overs) |
Ramesh Satheesan 86* (43)
Delrick Varghese 1/7 (0.4 overs) |
- Bulgaria won the toss and elected to bat.
- Senthilvel Karthikeyan (Rom) made his T20I debut.
v
|
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Abhishek Ahuja 61 (48)
Smit Patel 4/34 (4 overs) |
Sudesh Wickramasekara 63 (41)
Bhavani Adapaka 1/38 (3.1 overs) |
- Hungary won the toss and elected to bat.
v
|
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Avinash Pai 49 (40)
Ramesh Satheesan 3/37 (3 overs) |
Taranjeet Singh 84* (35)
Richard Cunningham 1/28 (2.2 overs) |
- Gibraltar won the toss and elected to bat.
Fifth-place play-off
editThird-place play-off
editv
|
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Dylan Steyn 65 (41)
Bhavani Adapaka 1/26 (3 overs) |
Abhijeet Ahuja 75 (52)
Sazib Bhuiyan 2/29 (4 overs) |
- Hungary won the toss and elected to field.
Final
editReferences
edit- ^ "Valetta Cup underway in Malta". CricketEurope. Archived from the original on 26 September 2022. Retrieved 10 May 2022.
- ^ a b "Malta Cricket to host 6-Nation Men's Valetta Cup in May 2022". Czarsportz. Retrieved 14 March 2022.
- ^ "Gibraltar faced double defeat on first day". Gibraltar Chronicle. Retrieved 11 May 2022.
- ^ "Malta crowned 2021 Valletta Cup champions". Emerging Cricket. Retrieved 31 October 2021.
- ^ @MaltaCricket (20 October 2019). "Czech Republic crowned champions of the 2019 Valletta Cup" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ "Gibraltar cricket has produced another victory against Bulgaria". Gibraltar Chronicle. Retrieved 13 May 2022.
- ^ "Big hitting Czechs highlight day three in Malta". CricketEurope. Archived from the original on 26 September 2022. Retrieved 12 May 2022.
- ^ "Romania win Valletta Cup". CricketEurope. Archived from the original on 15 May 2022. Retrieved 15 May 2022.
- ^ "Romania the champions of 2022 Valletta Cup". Cricket Romania. Retrieved 17 May 2022.
- ^ a b @CzechCricket (7 April 2022). "Announcing the Czech men's national team squad for the Valetta Cup, Malta May 10 - 15th" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ "Gibraltar Cricket announces squad for Valletta Cup". Gibraltar Chronicle. Retrieved 22 April 2022.
- ^ "Valletta Cup 2022". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 14 May 2022.
- ^ a b c "Centuries in Twenty20 International cricket – innings by innings". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 12 May 2022.
- ^ "Rocca Gibraltar still standing". CricketEurope. Retrieved 14 May 2022.
