2019 European Cricket League

2019 European Cricket League

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
2022 →

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]

Tournament Play / Broadcast at ECL19

Packing 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

Svanholm

Dreux

Findorff

Janjua

Volharding

Cluj

St. Petersburg Lions

Catalunya

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Location of 2019 ECL teams

Eight clubs from across Europe participated in the inaugural edition. ^[7]

1. Svanholm Cricket Club, Brøndby
2. Dreux Cricket Club, Dreux
3. Sportgemeinschaft Findorff, Bremen
4. Janjua Cricket Club, Brescia
5. Volharding Olympia Combinatie, Rotterdam
6. Cluj Cricket Club, Cluj-Napoca
7. St. Petersburg Lions, Saint Petersburg
8. Catalunya Cricket Club, Girona

Group stage

Group A

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

Source: European Cricket Network

Fixtures

29 July 2019 08:00 Scorecard

Dreux 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 by 8 wickets La Manga Club, Murcia Umpires: Lars Anderson and Muhammad Adnan

• V.O.C. Rotterdam won the toss and elected to bowl.

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29 July 2019 12:00 Scorecard

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)

Svanholm Cricket Club won by 9 wickets La Manga Club, Murcia Umpires: Andrew Begg and Muhammad Adnan

• Dreux CC won the toss and elected to bat.

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29 July 2019 16:00 Scorecard

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)		Pieter Seelaar 25* (11) Taranjeet Singh 2/24 (2 overs)

V.O.C. Rotterdam won by 8 wickets La Manga Club, Murcia Umpires: Shanaka Weerahennedige and Lars Anderson

• V.O.C. Rotterdam won the toss and elected to bowl.

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30 July 2019 08:00 Scorecard

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)

Dreux Cricket Club won by 95 runs La Manga Club, Murcia Umpires: Shanaka Weerahennedige and Andrew Schou

• Cluj CC won the toss and elected to bowl.

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30 July 2019 12:00 Scorecard

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 Cricket Club won by 10 wickets La Manga Club, Murcia Umpires: Martin Hancock and Andrew Schou

• Svanholm CC won the toss and elected to bowl.

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30 July 2019 18:00 Scorecard

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)		Mads Henriksen 53* (21) Pierce Fletcher 2/14 (2 overs)

V.O.C. Rotterdam won by 7 runs La Manga Club, Murcia Umpires: Andrew Schou and Muhammad Adnan

• Svanholm CC won the toss and elected to bowl.

Group B

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

Source: European Cricket Network

† Lost all points due to player eligibility infringement. ^[8]

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29 July 2019 10:00 Scorecard

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)

Catalunya Cricket Club won by 66 runs La Manga Club, Murcia Umpires: Martin Hancock and Waseem Dar

|toss=Catalunya CC won the toss and elected to bat.

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29 July 2019 14:00 Scorecard

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)

Catalunya Cricket Club declared winners† La Manga Club, Murcia Umpires: Andrew Schou and Martin Hancock

|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.

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29 July 2019 18:00 Scorecard

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)

SG Findorff declared winners† La Manga Club, Murcia Umpires: Andrew Begg and Waseem Dar

|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.

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30 July 2019 10:00 Scorecard

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)

SG Findorff won by 8 wickets La Manga Club, Murcia Umpires: Muhammad Adnan and Waseem Dar

• St. Petersburg Lions won the toss and elected to bat.

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30 July 2019 14:00 Scorecard

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 declared winners† La Manga Club, Murcia Umpires: Lars Anderson and Andrew Begg

• 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.

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30 July 2019 16:00 Scorecard

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 by 6 wickets La Manga Club, Murcia Umpires: Shanaka Weerahennedige and Martin Hancock

• SG Findorff won the toss and elected to bowl.

Minor play-offs

7th place playoff

31 July 2019 09:00 Scorecard

Cluj 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)

JCC Brescia won by 6 wickets La Manga Club, Murcia Umpires: Andrew Schou and Martin Hancock

• Cluj CC won the toss and elected to bat.

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5th place playoff

31 July 2019 11:00 Scorecard

Dreux 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 Cricket Club won by 12 runs La Manga Club, Murcia Umpires: Andrew Begg and Muhammad Adnan

• Dreux CC won the toss and elected to bat.

Playoffs

Semi-finals

Semi-final 1

31 July 2019 13:00 Scorecard

Catalunya 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)

V.O.C. Rotterdam won by 9 wickets La Manga Club, Murcia Umpires: Lars Anderson and Waseem Dar

• Catalunya CC won the toss and elected to bat.

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2nd Semi-final

31 July 2019 15:00 Scorecard

Svanholm 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 by 7 wickets La Manga Club, Murcia Umpires: Martin Hancock and Shanaka Weerahennedige

• SG Findorff won the toss and elected to bowl.

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Final

31 July 2019 17:00 Scorecard

V.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)

V.O.C. Rotterdam won by 101 runs La Manga Club, Murcia Umpires: Lars Anderson and Waseem Dar

• SG Findorff won the toss and elected to bowl.

Player of the Tournament

Max 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

The 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

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8. Mark Lovell (31 July 2019). "Brescia forfeits games due to ineligible player". European Cricket League. Retrieved 12 February 2020.
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12. 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.
13. Masters, James. "European Cricket League: Pavel Florin gets backing from Shane Warne". CNN. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
14. "'I love cricket': Video of Romanian bowler goes viral". cricket.com.au. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
15. "Is this the most unusual bowling action you have ever seen?". BBC Sport. 31 July 2019. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
16. "Pavel Florin: Twitter fame, Transylvania and a night at The Oval". thecricketer.com. Retrieved 11 February 2020.^{[ permanent dead link ]}
17. 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.
18. Rehman, Sajawal. "This Romanian Bowler Has Become an Internet Sensation Due to His Bowling Action". propakistani.pk. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
19. "In Cluj? How about some cricket?". Hindustan Times. 11 August 2019. Retrieved 11 February 2020.