Monday, 25 September 2023
The European Cricket Championship 2023 (ECC) has started with two wins for the Spanish team on the tournament’s first day.
The championship kicked off with an official opening ceremony this Monday morning (25 September), before the first ball was bowled at 11.30am. Spain took to the wicket against France and came out on top to secure the first win of the championships.
The Spanish team were too good against the French, sealing a seven-wicket on home soil at the Cártama Oval in Malaga province.
Muhammad Babar was the top scorer for Spain piling on 62 runs from 21 balls, while Daniel Doyle Calle scored 59 off 24 balls. In the bowling department, Muhammad Atif and Ameer Hamzah both took three wickets.
Spain started from where they left off later in the day when they faced Greece on Monday afternoon. The Spaniards secured another seven-wicket victory, ending a perfect first day. Muhammad Ishan was the top scorer with 38 runs off 13 balls.
Attending the first day of the championship was the director general of sport at the Junta de AndalucÃa, José MarÃa Arrabal, who stressed “the Andalusian government’s commitment to the promotion of a growing sport such as cricket, with thousands of fans around the world, and which is going to give great visibility to the AndalucÃa brand outside our region”.
Arrabal added, “AndalucÃa is a privileged destination to host important national and international competitions.”
This is the third time the Guadalhorce valley venue has hosted the most important cricket event in Europe after two successful years. A total of 31 teams will face off in groups during the first three weeks, before the top-placed countries compete with reigning champions Netherlands XI in Championship Week. The final will be played on 20 October. Spain plays takes to the wicket again tomorrow (26 September) at 2pm against Isle of Man, and will then face Czech Republic at 4pm.