European Cricket League T-10
Cricket was invented by the British and most of the countries that play it was ruled by the British Empire. Somehow, cricket has avoided the limelight in other European nations like France, Germany and Italy. The Europeans who watched the game mainly gave two reasons for avoiding it – the first being that it’s a game played by rich English men in sweaters and the other reason is that cricket is way too complicated for their liking.
But the recent surge in Southeast Asian immigrants into Europe has had a positive impact on the development of European Cricket. This gave rise to the European Cricket League (ECL) in 2019, where clubs from all over Europe came together to play the Champions League of Cricket. The European Cricket League T-10, played in the T-10 format, involved 8 teams and was played at the La Manga Club in Malaga, Spain, proving to be an instant success.
But the Covid-19 pandemic has halted the tournament in 2020 and 2021. Not one to back down, the founder of the European Cricket League, Daniel Weston, started the European Cricket Series (ECS) in June 2020 to feed a cricket-hungry fanbase. Working closely with almost 30 National Cricket Federations and the various local organizing committees, the T-10 European Cricket Series achievements between June 1 and September 17 have been truly remarkable.
As the pandemic subsided, the European Cricket League was back in 2022 for its 2nd edition which was far bigger and better than the previous tournament. The format continued to be 10 overs, with the match finishing in 90 minutes just like football. However, the number of teams in the tournament has drastically increased, with 30 teams from 29 European nations coming together to fight for the coveted European Cricket League T-10 trophy over 6 long weeks.
The format, like the game itself, has been very complicated with 30 teams participating. 30 teams have been divided into 5 groups of 6 teams each through a draw. Each group will play a total of 15 games among them and a further 9 games including 3 playoffs, 3 eliminators, 2 qualifiers, and a final, to decide the winner of the group.
The five group-winners will further undergo a round-robin stage where they will play a further 23 games called the Championship week to decide the winner of the tournament. Since a European Cricket League match lasts only 90 minutes, there will be 5 matches per day, with all games played at the La Manga Club in Malaga, Spain.
A cryptocurrency coin known as Kiba Inu is partnering with the European Cricket Network to host the 2nd edition of the European Cricket League. All 30 teams in the European Cricket League were sponsored by the crypto coin, which meant that all teams had Kiba Inu on their jerseys.
All matches were broadcast live on Fan Code, a Dream Sports network entity, to give free access to all fans. The European Cricket League live match score can also be seen on the official website of the European Cricket Network.