Luxembourg T20I series
Club cricket has been resuming across Europe recently, but other than in England there'd been no announcement of any international cricket, until now.
The Luxembourg Cricket Federation has announced that they will be hosting Belgium and the Czech Republic for a T20I series from 28th to 30th August.
All matches will be played at the Pierre Warner Cricket Ground, with further details to be announced nearer the time.
Dutch competitions get the green light
The Dutch government gave permission for the continuation of cricket on 24 June and consultations with the clubs are now taking place over the number of teams which will be entered and the availability of grounds which fit the Covid-19 safety rules.
It is not yet clear what form the abbreviated competitions will take, or even whether the emphasis will be on 50-over cricket or Twenty20.
With national coach Ryan Campbell and other members of the Royal Dutch Cricket Federation (KNCB)’s coaching team coming out strongly for the longer format on social media, it is evident that there is considerable pressure from some quarters for a 50-over competition, whether or not the highest division would be regarded as a Topklasse leading to a national championship.
The KNCB had previously declared that there would be no promotion or relegation in this year’s leagues, and with few, if any, overseas players able to travel, Dutch-based players will have the best opportunity in a couple of generations to compete on a level playing-field.
If, as planned, competitions get under way next weekend (4 and 5 July), there will be nine weekends between then and the end of August, after which the return of football is likely to make competitive cricket impossible.
One option, then, is to play a ‘half-competition’ in the ten-team top divisions, with teams meeting home-or-away rather than the usual home-and-away pattern.
It remains to be seen whether, if something like this is adopted, there would also be a T20 Cup, presumably to be played on Friday evenings and/or Saturdays.
Much depends on how much appetite there is for the game after the enforced two-month lay-off, but the way in which clubs have taken the initiative in starting up their own internal competitions suggests that it may be considerable.
Further down the rankings, among the more purely recreational cricketers there may be a stronger case for running T20 competitions this year, not least in order to maximise ground availability and thus make it possible for more players to play more cricket.
No doubt all these issues will be resolved in the next few days, as they must be if the KNCB is to have all those vectors in action on 4 and 5 July.
John Stephenson
john@cricketinvestor.co.uk
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