PET(4)-11-12 : Monday 2 July 2012
P-04-335 : The Establishment
of a Welsh Cricket Team
Carmel & District Cricket Club, Flintshire News Article
Carmel EuroTwenty20 Tournament
The idea for a European
Twenty20 tournament was born in 2007 following a groundbreaking
trip by a Carmel Touring XI who became the first Welsh village club
to defeat a national cricket team.
Inspired by the late Harry Thompson’s Penguins Stopped
Play Carmel went behind the old Iron Curtain to the
former USSR on a cricket tour, which made would make history.
The club faced national teams from Estonia, Russia and Latvia and
also became the first touring side to win the Helsinki
International Sixes competition in the nine-year history of the
event.
Players were touched by the warmth, hospitality and passion for
cricket in these countries and it was decided that the club would
like to do something to assist with the development of European
cricket.
After a proposal was ratified at the club’s Annual General
Meeting the club sought permission from the International Cricket
Council (ICC Europe) to stage an invitational Twenty20
tournament.
ICC Europe subsequently agreed to support the event and the 2008
Carmel Invitational EuroTwenty20 tournament was born.
National teams from Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Poland,
Russia and Slovakia along with Carmel and a team representing the
Cricket Board of Wales (CBW) contested the first eight-team
tournament.
Estonia were the inaugural champions with a dramatic last-over
victory over Czech Republic at Carmel’s picturesque
Pen-y-Gelli ground in Flintshire.
The success of the inaugural tournament prompted the club to commit
to hold the EuroTwenty20 tournament again in 2009 with Hungary,
Bulgaria, Flanders, the Island of Alderney and Southport club side
New Victoria among the newcomers.
Despite a difficult week with the weather all the matches were
played and Flanders claimed the second title with a victory over
the hosts in the final while Croatia took home the plate
trophy.
After two years of hosting the tournament in Wales it was decided
that it would be good to take it abroad and after several countries
expressed and interest Skopje, the capital of Macedonia, was chosen
as the host destination for the 2010 event.
It is hoped that the tournament will be held in mainland Europe
again in 2011 with the aim of hosting a significantly expanded
event in Wales in 2012 as an official ICC event.