The European Cricket Network live broadcasts the 2020 European Cricket Series Frankfurt encounter between FCA04 Darmstadt and MSC Frankfurt.

PREVIEW: MATCH 11 – FCA04 Darmstadt v MSC Frankfurt – European Cricket Series Frankfurt

Tune in to the live action Wednesday from 9am CEST * 8am UK * 7am GMT * 12:30pm IST from the Frankfurt Oval in Germany.

Team Preview for FCA04 Darmstadt

FCA04 Darmstadt have been one of the top performing clubs in Germany over the past couple of seasons. They have won the right to represent Germany as their national champions at the European Cricket League next year after defeating Kummerfeld SV in a best-of-three T10 playoff on Sunday. Despite this strong form, they fell to MSC Frankfurt in the semi-final of the previous Frankfurt ECS in July, so they will be out for revenge in their opening fixture of the tournament.

Captain: Muhammad Mudassar

Main Wicketkeeper: Husnain Kabeer

Key Players:

Muhammad Mudassar is a very accomplished German national team player. He will open the batting and was the outstanding player in the European Division One international competition back in 2017. Last time he didn’t make as many runs in the ECS as he would have liked, but he was outstanding with the ball, capturing five wickets for the series.

Husnain Kabeer will open the batting with his captain and fulfil the wicketkeeping duties. He scored FCA04 Darmstadt’s only half-century in the July series and looked dangerous at the top of the order.

Ghulam Saif impressed with the ball in their last ECS appearance. He was their leading wicket-taker with six victims on that weekend.

Team Preview for MSC Frankfurt

MSC Frankfurt are the defending champions of the European Cricket Series Frankfurt. They won all four of their matches back in July including upsetting FCA04 Darmstadt 124-110 in the first semi-final. They also finished first in the state T20 competition this season so they will be full of confidence.

Captain: Sekandar Khan

Main Wicketkeeper: Habib Rahman

Key Players:

Shahid Afridi Jr was a real firecracker back in July with bat and ball. In the first match of that tournament he blasted 35 off 12 balls against Frankfurt CC and ended up being their leading run-scorer in that ECS. I’ll be watching out for “BOOM BOOM JR” over the next couple of days to turn it on. He can work some decent pace with the ball and may open the bowling.

Muslim Yar Ashraf is yet another German international plain in this match. This left-arm spinner took five wickets in the previous series and was their most economical bowler, conceding only 6.37 runs per over. He’s no slouch with the bat and has a double century to his name in the German Bundesliga 50 Over competition.

Adel Khan is a wild card for MSC Frankfurt and could open the batting. He played some forgettable strokes in a couple of his innings but he showed his destructive ability when he struck his top score of 56. At only 21 years old, he is perhaps lacking in maturity at this stage of his career, but one thing he doesn’t lack is confidence!

Mr Maximo’s tip: FCA04 DARMSTADT

If ever a game was a toss-up, this is it! Both teams have a strong case to be called favourites in Group B and as such it is very difficult to split them. In the end, the fact that FCA04 Darmstadt are coming off two good T10 wins in the ECL playoffs was enough to get me leaning towards them, but MSC Frankfurt may have something to say about that! This is one game you won’t want to miss, the first game of five on Wednesday, right here on European Cricket.