After 5 weeks of non-stop international t10 cricket, 120 matches, 14,400 deliveries, the Netherlands XI are the winners of the 2022 Dream11 European Cricket Championships after beating the England XI in the final under lights.
It was the Italians who would take no part in finals day Friday as they would take 5th place in the ECC this year. It was still a week to take positives from as the Italians were able to take victories against the England XI and the Scotland XI. With a very important tri series in just a month's time taking place, the ECC was a great platform for players to showcase their talent and try and put their names in the selectors thoughts. Baljit Singh will certainly be hoping he has done enough as he finished on 287 runs from his time in Cartama with a high score of 69 with 156 runs coming in the form of sixes.
With very impressive round robin performances, Spain and the Netherlands XI were the two nations with the double chance to get into the final. The Dutch won the toss and elected to bat first and looked as if they were going to struggle as they fell to 12/2 but were able to rebuild and reach 129/6 off their 10 overs with Ryan Klein the savior, scoring 62 off of just 23 balls. Spain were feeling confident however when Daniel Doyle Calle and Yasir Ali were removed for just 27 runs combined, it was an uphill battle from there on in and it ended up being the Dutch who would book their spot in the final, as they won by 30 runs in qualifier 1.
The crucial eliminator was named the Battle of Britain as the England XI took on the Scotland XI. English skipper Dan Lincoln won the toss and once again elected to bat, with 52.5% of teams batting first winning, Lincoln wanted runs on the board. That is exactly what was delivered as Harrison Ward and Lincoln himself hit half-centuries meaning the England XI would hit 15 sixes to reach 155/4 off 10 overs. In response, the Scottish once again seemed to rely too heavily on Oli Hairs until Kess Sajjad came to the crease, and even with 50 runs from just 21 deliveries, it was just too late as Scotland XI fell short by just 8 runs - and were out of the tournament.
It was a somewhat new-look Scotland XI for Championship week. The Scots had added to their squad in their bid to take the trophy up to the north of the UK. Oli Hairs came into the squad and the Scottish veteran certainly hit the ground running scoring 71(31) in just his second match. He ended up scoring 204 runs with 24 sixes and an impressive strike rate of 240 - the best for Scotland. Kess Sajjad was a standout player in both group C and Championship Week. Sajjad picked up 10 wickets with best figures of 2/2 whilst also scoring 204 runs with two scores of 50+. In their first visit to the Cartama Oval for their debut in international t10 cricket, the Scots will be content with their performance and will certainly be looking forward to hopefully returning next year.
Qualifier 2 was up next, Spain taking on the England XI for the final spot in the final for the ECC 2022. Once again Lincoln won the toss for the English and elected to bat first. Losing 3 wickets within the first overs was not the start England would have envisioned but late hitting by Andy Rishton and Arthur Godsal meant England clawed their way to 123/7 from their 10 overs. Spain had taken a while to find their opening partnership with the bat but this week they settled on Yasir Ali and Daniel Doyle-Calle. The opening partnership paid off this time around being worth 53 when Doyle-Calle was caught by Rishton. This was the beginning of the end for Spain as only Hamza Saleem Dar was able to get going after the openers, the game fell to an end with Spain collapsing to just 15 runs short of the target. The England XI were through to the final.
All of Spain will have a very disappointing feeling in their stomachs waking up the morning after. They weren’t able to take 2 chances to get into the all important final, and considering their form in the ECC this year they will feel that this year was the best opportunity. This shouldn’t take away the success that Spain has had this year. They have brought so many new eyes to the sport of cricket in Spain and with over 1000 school children supporting the Spanish team in this tournament, all begging for signatures, the future is certainly bright for Spain with a very important T20i tri-series coming up in just a month's time against Germany and Italy.
The final match of the 2022 ECC was set, England XI taking on the Netherlands XI. For the very last time this year, Dan Lincoln won the toss and no surprise that he elected to bat first. The Dutch were right on top from the start as England were 63/7 when Sam Pearce made his way to the crease. Hitting 3 boundaries in his stay at the crease meant Pearce finished on 21(11) and got his country up to 99/8, setting exactly 100 for victory. Losing Clayton Floyd on the very first ball of the Dutch response was not the start they wanted. However, sensible batting from Boris Gorlee and Ryan Klein left just 6 required and Shirase Rasool punished a full delivery into the legside to finish the game in style. The Netherlands XI are the winners of the second ever edition of the Dream11 European Cricket Championships.
The MVP of the tournament was awarded to Andy Rishton of the England XI. Rishton was a crucial all rounder for the English and was able to score 200 runs whilst picking up 13 wickets in just 11 matches. Rishton was awarded for his efforts by our partners Frederique Constant with a new watch and the MVP trophy.
