Friday, 1 March 2024, 09:55
The increasingly popular European Cricket League (ECL) Championship returned to the Malaga town of Cártama this week, as the group-stage action got under way on Monday.
For the third year running, the Cártama Oval is playing host to this international T10 Tournament, dubbed the ‘Champions League’ of cricket.
Some 35 elite European clubs are competing for the coveted trophy, including defending champions Dreux CC from France, 2022 winners Pak I Care Badalona (Spain) and 2019 champions V.O.C. Rotterdam (Netherlands).
For the first three weeks, the seven groups of five teams will face off among themselves before the group winners, decided by a qualifier between the two leaders, compete for the top honours during the championship week from 18 to 22 March.
The group phase kicked off this week with the Group A teams in action. After seeing off competition from Heritage CC (Luxembourg), Cobra CC (Hungary) and Zagreb Assassins (Croatia), Skanderborg (Denmark) and Jinnah Brescia (Italy) faced off in the qualifier. Despite coming second in the group, it was the Italians who prevailed, winning by five wickets to book their spot in the championship week.
Group B action got under way on Thursday, with English side Hornchurch, backed by their considerable fan base, beating Belgian side Mechelen Eagles by 78 runs.
For those wishing to see the action live, there will be a total of five 90-minute matches (restricted to a maximum of ten overs per side) played every day, between 11am and 9pm. Admission is free.