The European Cricket League is another addition to the mushrooming of cricket leagues all over the world. The league will witness a total of 17 matches that will be played. The league has adopted the T10 format and will be played over three days. Spain will host the tournament and will be staged between July 29 and July 31 this year. All the matches will be played at the prestigious La Manga Club with the domestic champions of Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Romania, Russia and Spain competing for the chance to be crowned as continental Europe club cricket’s ‘Kings of Europe’. The league will consist of matches of just 10 overs. In the game between French club Dreux and Romania's Cluj Cricket Club, an incident happened which went viral.
Pavel Florin, who is a professional bodyguard who also plays cricket, came on to bowl the final over of the Dreux innings. All his deliveries were slow, high full tosses which went down the leg side. Some deliveries were given a heightened flight and the batsman found it a little hard to hit his incredibly slow deliveries. The nature of the bowling was slightly effective when one looks at the context of the match. Only 13 runs were scored in the over and Dreux ended on 164/6. Cluj managed just 69/5 in their 10 overs as they lost their third straight game.
The video went viral and Florin was a subject of ridicule in many media stories, most notably from the sub-continent. Many media headlines stated that his action will leave everyone in splits and it invited plenty of scorn. However, Florin, in a mature response, made the cricketing world stand up and applaud his love for the game. "Someone said that my bowling is not beautiful. Or Not effective. I don't care. I love cricket. When I bowl like this, I saw that it is going to take a wicket. It is not beautiful. Everyone is saying. However, I am a slow bowler," Florin said.
According to a report in the Guardian, cricket is not widely played in Romania, but the country was granted affiliate status in 2013 and became an associate member of the ICC in 2017. The ECL has said it is “committed to developing cricket in Europeâ€.
Looking at the response of Florin, Australia legend Shane Warne and former England all-rounder Dimitri Mascarenhas hailed Florin as well as the European Cricket League. The league will be aiming to popularise cricket in Europe, where football is the dominant sport for the majority of the fans.
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HIGHLIGHTS
- The European Cricket League consists of clubs from eight countries.
- Romania was granted affiliate status in 2013.
- Pavel Florin is a professional bodyguard and player of Romania cricket.
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