Germany to host men’s T20I quadrangular series in May
The German Cricket Federation (DCB) is attempting to restart international cricket in the country, with a four-team men’s T20I series announced this week.
The planned tournament is tentatively scheduled for 16-18 May. Bringing together the hosts with their neighbours France, as well as Norway and Spain, the DCB hopes that the competition will serve as preparation for the upcoming European leg of the ICC T20 World Cup qualifiers. All four teams will need to dust off the cobwebs, with Germany and Spain not having played since March 2020, Norway’s last official match being in 2019 (though they played a friendly series against Denmark in August last year), and France on hiatus since 2018.
All four teams are scheduled to travel to Finland for the sub-regionals, starting in June, where they will compete with 20 other nations for three slots in the European finals.
The May series is also set to be the first major use of the DCB’s new national performance centre in Krefeld, which was completed at the end of last year. The complex includes an indoor nets facility as well as its ICC-standard outdoor turf square.
Irish World Cup centurion to coach Vanuatu
Former Ireland batter and Denmark coach Jeremy Bray will take on the role of head coach and high-performance manager for Vanuatu. The vacancy in the Pacific recently opened up after official coach Simon Keene was unable to fulfil his commitments due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and CEO Shane Dietz accepted a new assignment coaching the Netherlands women.
Bray brings strong experience to his position, having been in charge of Denmark since 2015, where he guided the Scandinavian nation through several divisions of the World Cricket League and into the new CWC Challenge League system. Prior to joining Denmark, Bray was involved in the Irish setup for several years, including coaching the women’s team to qualification in the 2014 ICC T20 World Cup.
As a player, Bray was a mainstay at the top of the order in an emerging Ireland team, being selected 82 times between 2002 and 2009. He was also the first Irish player to hit a century at the Cricket World Cup, scoring an unbeaten 115 against Zimbabwe in the dramatic tie during their memorable 2007 campaign.
Looking ahead to his posting with Vanuatu, Bray spoke to Radio NZ’s Pacific section: "The formula for success in the associate world is pretty simple: you must have batsmen who are good at playing spin and have good spin bowlers because that is exactly what the majority of associate cricket is based around.’ Developing the Danish batting technique against spin was also a high priority during his time with them."
John Stephenson
john@cricketinvestor.co.uk
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