Episode 36 of European Cricket Stories brings together two very different journeys that meet through a shared love of cricket. 🎙️

ECN Founder Daniel Weston sits down with Arun Ashokan and Martin Wörndl from Czech Cricket, two individuals whose paths into the game could not be more different, yet perfectly reflect cricket’s power to unite people from all backgrounds.

Martin first picked up a cricket bat in 2017 and was instantly drawn to the game. Coming from an elite golf background with a handicap between one and two, he found cricket felt more natural batting left handed. He played against opposition for the first time in 2018 and featured in his first proper match in 2019. That match saw him dismissed for a duck on the second ball after travelling three hours each way to play, yet he loved every second of the experience. A keen follower of the sport, Martin initially preferred longer formats but exposure to short format cricket soon made it his favourite way to play and watch the game.

Arun’s journey began much earlier. Growing up in India, cricket was part of daily life through television, especially after the 2003 World Cup. He played street cricket with a hard rubber tennis ball before moving into hard ball cricket after high school, when he was picked up by a club following a training session during school holidays. In 2014, Arun moved to Czechia to complete a master’s degree in mechanical engineering, unsure if cricket even existed there. Through university friends, he discovered cricket being played in a park under a bridge in Prague, returning once again to tennis ball cricket. That path eventually led him to Bohemian Cricket Club, a familiar name from ECN events in Czechia.

Together, Arun and Martin represent two contrasting backgrounds, one shaped by lifelong exposure to cricket and the other by late discovery, yet both are driven by the same passion for the game. This episode is a reminder that cricket connects people across cultures, countries and experiences, bringing them together through a shared love of sport.

Wacth the full episode on our channel https://youtu.be/oUkNVEwXsAk

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