Timothy Abraham

Hungary clinched the third invitational European Twenty20 title after a dramatic victory over Russia with one ball spare in the final at the Alexander The Great Cricket Ground in Skopje, Macedonia.

Russia posted a commanding 165 for 6 from their 20 overs thanks largely to the tournament’s highest runscorer Akila Milan De Silva Thotahewage who made 81 before he was dismissed by Magyars captain Andrew Leckonby (3 for 42).

The game looked beyond Hungary as they stumbled to 42 for 3 at the tenth over but Sufiyan Mohammed brought his side back into the game with a blistering 82, including five sixes in one over.

Hungary still required 17 to win off the final over in near darkness but some frantic hitting by Ranjeet Kumar and Habib Deldar sealed the victory with just one ball to spare.

Earlier, a Cricket Board of Wales XI won the plate competition after they defeated tournament debutantes Romania by 11 runs in the final thanks to an unbeaten 32 from wicketkeeper Dafydd Bailey.

The week-long tournament, which also included hosts Macedonia, Serbia, Bulgaria and a Croatia ‘A’ side, was hailed a success by co-organiser Timothy Abraham who took the ambitious decision to move it out of the UK after twice holding it at Carmel & District Cricket Club in North Wales.

“Undoubtedly taking the tournament to Skopje brought a huge set of logistical problems but apart from a few minor issues the event was largely a success due to the excellent work of those on the ground in Macedonia,” Abraham said.

“The EuroTwenty20 tournament goes from strength to strength and continues to provide invaluable experience for those European countries working towards ICC Affiliate Member status and nations where the game is largely in its infancy.

“Indeed special praise should also be reserved for the likes of Serbia whose team was predominantly made up of native players and their passion, pride and commitment - particularly when fielding - impressed everybody."

Fellow organiser Ray Power, of the British Business Group Macedonia, who is involved with the development of cricket in the region, and was the driving force behind holding the event in Skopje, is confident of seeing the benefits to Macedonian cricket in the near future.

He added: “Hosting the event was a real honour for Macedonia which did not, until now, have a dedicated space for a cricket ground, but the significance of the EuroTwenty20 and visiting countries has instilled a sense of pride in Macedonia that is lending itself to a very successful promotion of the sport.

“Overall, it has been an exciting tournament and a real victory for cricket as it cements itself in a new area that is adopting the sport very rapidly. There has also been a lot of media and public interest in the event and going forward we are working towards introducing the sport to schools and starting up a women’s team.

“Indeed, the visiting countries also meant a great deal to the sport as everyone built new relationships off the field which will pave the way for more regular regional games in the Balkans and there is already talk of follow up matches later in the year.”

In a year when research revealed that cricket could have been invented by the Flemish it was perhaps fitting that Flanders were the winners of the second Carmel EuroTwenty20 tournament staged in North Wales.

The Australian National University in Canberra uncovered a reference to the sport in a poem written in 1533, in which cricket is linked to Flemish weavers working in England. The weavers from Flanders are known to have settled in rural areas around Kent and Surrey, where it is generally believed that cricket originated.

And the newly-formed Flanders team, captained by former France national team coach Dave Szumowski, did their ancestors proud in the eight-team tournament which also included Bulgaria, Hungary, Russia, Croatia ‘A’ as well as the island of Alderney.

Flanders won by nine runs in a dramatic final victory over hosts Carmel & District Cricket Club thanks to a crucial knock of 32 not out from Szumowski before Brett Meredith (4-21) spun the Flemish side to victory.

Croatia ‘A’ won the plate competition with an emphatic 59-run win over English side New Victoria thanks largely to the performance of promising teenage fast bowler Nikola Davidovic who finished as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker.

Alderney, who were making their first foray into international cricket, picked up the EuroTwenty20 Spirit of Cricket Award for the enthusiasm and effort they showed both on and off the pitch.

EuroTwenty20 organiser Timothy Abraham admitted the competition had been a success despite the difficult weather conditions, and revealed exciting plans for the future of the event.

“A lot of credit has to go to our groundsmen Neil Taylor and Tony Ryles who had to battle with the elements during the week to get the ground playable,” he said.

“Luckily we managed to get every single match played and a lot of the teams gained valuable experience which will help aid their cricket development and preparation for future ICC events.”

Abraham continued: “In terms of the future, we are hopeful that one of the nations who have taken part in the past two years will be able to stage the tournament in 2010, and it can also be staged overseas in 2011, before it comes back to North Wales a year after that.

“There is a drive to try and get Twenty20 cricket into the Olympic Games so I am hopeful of persuading various stakeholders – including the ICC - that staging a tournament to coincide with London 2012 could be the way forward.

“Having laid down a maker over the past two years by staging two European Twenty20 tournaments I believe that North Wales would be a fantastic location for such an event.

“I hope we could expand the tournament to at least 16 teams, but we should certainly be ambitious so why not 32 countries?

“However, it would only be possible with significant funding from the Welsh Assembly Government so with three years to prepare I will be strongly lobbying them for support.”

For detailed scorecards, results and pictures visit the tournament website at www.eurotwenty20.eu

Timothy Abraham

Hungary, Bulgaria and Alderney will be among the newcomers in the second invitational European Twenty20 tournament staged by Welsh side Carmel & District Cricket Club.

The village team based in Flintshire, North Wales, successfully staged the ICC-supported event last year and their beautiful Pen-y-Gelli ground will host international fixtures every day from July 19-26 this summer.

Estonia, who defeated Czech Republic in the 2008 final, will return to defend the trophy in what will be useful preparation for September’s ICC European Division Five Championship campaign in Corfu.

Croatia ‘A', semi-finalists from last year, are also taking part, while Prague Cup winners Russia will hope to improve on their exit at the group stages last time out and, like Hungary, will hope to enhance their claims for ICC Affiliate member status.

The island of Alderney will make their first foray into international cricket while the tournament will also include a Flanders representative team captained by former France coach Dave Szumowski including a number of players from Lille Cricket Club.

EuroTwenty20 organiser Timothy Abraham said: “It is a real honour for Carmel to be helping the development of cricket throughout Europe and the line-up for this year’s tournament is a particularly exciting one.

“I know a lot of the countries in 2008’s event gained valuable experience from playing on traditional turf pitches rather than artificial ones, and our groundsmen Tony Ryles and Neil Taylor were praised by everyone after they produced some outstanding batting strips.

“Cardiff will be staging an Ashes Test match in July and the ICC World Twenty20 also takes place this year so it’s great that North Wales will have its own bit of international cricket to look forward to.”

Carmel skipper Danny Oliver is also looking forward to captaining the host team in the tournament and is hoping they go further than their elimination at the group stage last summer.

“The tournament was played in a tremendous spirit with some great cricket and it promises to be bigger and better this year,” Oliver said.

“Having several different cultures up at the ground was brilliant and I think we opened a lot of people’s eyes that cricket is now a global game which is played by many countries outside of the major Test-playing nations.

“The strength of the teams and quality of opposition also probably surprised us a bit last year so we’ll have to be firing on all cylinders if we are to win it.”