Dilip Kuner
CRICKET lovers in Spain don’t have long to wait to see some of the best club cricketers in Europe in action.
Some 30 teams from across the continent and the UK are heading to the Cartama Oval in Malaga for the 2022 Bet2Ball European Cricket League finals.
ECL22 will take place over six weeks starting on February 7 with Group A action including the English champions Tunbridge Wells.
Hailed as ‘the Champions League of European cricket’, ECL22 is an expanded 30 team tournament including the champions of England, Ireland and Scotland.
Originally set to be held at La Manga Club in Murcia, it was postponed due to pandemic travel restrictions.
This year the Federations and Champion Clubs of Jersey, Guernsey, Austria, Hungary, Czech Republic, Portugal, Bulgaria, Malta, Turkey, Cyprus, Croatia, Greece, Luxembourg and Switzerland have been added to the expanded tournament.
The European Cricket League is a fast-growing competition that attracts teams from countries not traditionally know for the sport.
European Cricket Network (ECN) CEO Roger Fiener told the Olive Press: “People don’t realise it, but cricket is the fastest growing sport in Europe, and second fastest in the world.
“In Germany there are now 350 clubs – there were only a handful a few years ago.”
Matches are televised and streamed on YouTube and have attracted an incredible 130 million viewers.
READ MORE:
- Battle of the sexes: New format chess festival in Gibraltar pits women against men for £100,000 prize
- DRAW: Teams for European Cricket League finals at Spain’s Cartama Oval
