Dream11 European Cricket Championship sees 15 teams feature in three groups of five, with each group meeting over a separate week of T10 action. Each group will feature 24 T10 games - a double round-robin and a playoff. The leading two countries in each group will advance to a Finals Week scheduled from October 4-8 in Spain.
ECC21 is going global - LIVE broadcast to over 100 countries worldwide.
The hosts Spain will get us underway when facing Belgium on Monday September 13. Group A is definitely the hardest of all the groups to call with all the countries evenly matched and closely bunched together in the latest ICC T20 Mens rankings.
Norway impressed in the recent Tri-Series in August in Germany, blasting the highest score in the T20i competition before losing the final to hosts Germany. Going into the tournament, Norway are the top ranked side in Group A sitting in 39 in the ICC T20 Mens rankings.
Currently 42 in the ICC T20 Mens rankings, Spain will have the added advantage of playing in their own backyard at the picturesque Cartama Oval. Spain will be a powerful unit, boasting proven performers in this T10 format with numerous key players from European Cricket Series Barcelona tournaments over the last two seasons in their ranks. Spain also tuned up well for ECC21 with a 2-1 T20i series win over Germany at the weekend.
Ranked 40th in the ICC T20 World Rankings going into the tournament, Belgium are only behind Norway in the rankings in Group A. Boasting a host of proven ECS performers in their ranks, all comfortable in this high-octane format, Belgium will quietly fancy their chances of progressing to Finals Week in October.
Boasting a long history of playing international cricket dating back to 2003, Luxembourg are the lowest ranked of the sides in Group A in the ICC T20 rankings at 54, but although slight underdogs, Luxembourg have absolutely nothing to lose.
Currently ranked 45th in the ICC T20 Mens rankings, Sweden will be a fiercely competitive T10 unit as most of their line-up have impressed in a host of European Cricket Series tournaments staged in Sweden over the last two years.
