The European Cricket League was founded in 2019 by German cricketer Daniel Weston intended as a way to develop cricket in emerging nations in Europe as a cricket equivalent to football's UEFA Champions League.[2][3] In 2020, it was announced the European Cricket League expanded from 8 teams to include the national club champions of 30 European countries.[2] This came after Weston signed agreements with several European cricket boards to ensure their domestic champions would be invited.[4]
The host for the 2021 and 2022 editions was announced as Spain.[5] The Cartama Oval in Málaga was chosen as the host city ahead of La Manga, Murcia, who were due to host in 2021.[3] It was announced the 2022 edition would run from 7 February 2022 to 25 March.[6]
It was announced that, due to issues with getting visas, that Petersburg Sporting would not be taking part in their group. They would be replaced by the Calpe Giants of Gibraltar.[10]
The Group Stage is to be played across the first 5 weeks of the tournament, with each Group lasting a week. Each week starts with a 3-day round-robin tournament, from which the top 3 progress to a Super 3 playoff. The bottom two teams face off in an eliminator, with the winner going on to play the team who finished 4th. The winner of that game then plays the 3rd place team from the Super 3 playoff, while the Top 2 from that playoff play each other in the first Qualifier. The loser of that game and the winner of the third eliminator then play in the second qualifier. The winners of the Qualifiers then play in the group final to decide the overall Group Winner.
Tunbridge Wells beat Austrian Cricket Tigers by 28 runs Cartama Oval, Cartama Umpires: Nilkesh Patel and Suleman Saeed Player of the match: Alex Williams
Austrian Cricket Tigers won the toss and elected to Bowl
Ahsan Yousuf 21 (8) Shahzeb Mohammad 3/14 (2 overs)
Hamza Niaz 28 (11) Adal Afzal 2/24 (1.4 overs)
Dreux beat Austrian Cricket Tigers by 7 wickets Cartama Oval, Cartama Umpires: Suleman Saeed and Subh Navjot Anand Player of the match: Shahzeb Mohammad
Austrian Cricket Tigers won the toss and elected to Bat
Muhammad Kamran 35 (15) Sushil Kumar 2/7 (2 overs)
Pak I Care Badalona beat Punjab Lions Nicosia by 14 runs (D/L Method) Cartama Oval, Cartama Umpires: Steffan Gooch and Joe Foster Player of the match: Muhammad Babar
Pak I Care Badalona won the toss and elected to bat
Rain reduced Punjab Lions Nicosia's innings to 3 overs. According to the Duckworth–Lewis method, their target was 33 runs.
Championship Week
The Champions Week features a slightly modified version of the Group Stage model. The 5 group winners play in a double round-robin format from the Monday to Thursday. The top 2 teams after this progress to the 1st Qualifier, while 3rd and 4th go to the Eliminator. The loser of the Qualifier and the Winner of the Eliminator then face off for the right to play the Qualifier winner in the Championship Final. The teams moving on to the Finals week are:
Team
Tunbridge Wells
Brigade
Brescia
Alby Zalmi
Pak I Care Badalona
Due to adverse weather conditions in Malaga, the first 3 days of competition were suspended. The games were shortened to 5 overs a side, with 10 games on Day 1 (Thursday), and 10 games on Day 2 (Friday), with the Saturday now acting as the Final Day of the tournament
Spain
Chris Williams (477)
