Czechia Men’s team have won the Central Europe Cup thrice in the last four (4) editions, ever since the format change format. Austria Men, who made their debut in the competition in 2021, were the winners of that year’s edition. Incidently, Norway Men have played against both Czechia and Austria teams only once in T20Is, during the Europe Sub-regional Qualifier towards 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in July 2022 in Finland.

Central Europe Cup 2025 Schedule

08th June 2025: Czechia vs Austria (Scorecard) ; Norway vs Czechia (Scorecard)

09th June 2025: Austria vs Norway (Scorecard) ; Czechia vs Austria (Scorecard)

10th June 2025: Norway vs Czechia (Scorecard) ; Austria vs Norway (Scorecard)

Czech Men’s team are the defending Champions from the 2022 edition, which they won against the teams from Austria and Luxembourg.

Squads

Czech Republic Men: Arun Ashokan (Captain), Ritik Tomar, Sahil Grover, Sudesh Wickramasekera, Sabawoon Davizi, Paaras Khari, Neeraj Tyagi, Sazib Bhuiyan, Dylan Steyn, Shoumyadeep Rakshit, Riaz Mohammad, Venkatesh Marghashayam, Abul Hossine Farhad, Naveed Ahmed and Rahat Ali

Belgium Men: Marc Ahuja (Captain), Vinoth Ravindran, Mark Des Fontaine, Zeeshan Khan, Ali Farasat, Ali Yalmaz, Akramullah Malikzada, Sandeep Mohandas, Abhitesh Prashar, Safi Zahir, Stan Ahuja, Abhishek Kheterpal, Bhavani Adapaka and Gabor Torok

2023 Central Europe Cup Schedule

10th June 2023: Czech Republic vs Hungary – 1st T20I (Scorecard)

11th June 2023: Czech Republic vs Hungary – 2nd T20I (Scorecard) and 3rd T20I (Scorecard)

With travel restrictions getting a bit relaxed between European Union countries, many countries are now trying to arrange matches/series to make up for the disappointment of losing out on playing in the European sub-regional qualifiers for 2022 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. Czech Republic hosted the 3-nation Central Europe Cup in May 2021 involving Luxembourg, while Bulgaria hosted the 4-nation Sofia T20I tournament in June 2021, that involved Romania. Malta have also been involved in T20Is in 2021, when they hosted Belgium in July 2021.

Czech Republic national squad players have been playing competitive domestic cricket at home in the past couple of months, and also took part in the ECS (European Cricket Series) T10 event.

Czech Republic Squad

Arun Ashokan (Captain), Kushalkumar Mendon, Hilal Ahmad, Naveed Ahmed, Sabawoon Davizi, Kyle Gilham, Sahil Grover, Vyshakh Jagannivasan, Keyur Mehta, Smit Patel, Satyajit Sengupta, Ali Waqar, Sameera Waththage and Sudesh Wickramasekara

The Tri-series will be known as “Luxembourg T20I Trophy” and will be played according to ICC T20I rules and will carry T20I team ranking points towards the ICC T20I Team rankings table. As per the current standings, Czech Republic are ranked at 54th place, followed by Luxembourg at 58th place and Belgium at 63rd place. Luxembourg hosted Czech Republic as part of a T20 Tri-series in Jun 2018, where Malta were the third country in the tournament. The host’s were the winner of the tournament back then but things are a lot different now with national players from Czech Republic and Malta having played T20I matches in 2019 and have the experience of playing even in the European sub-regional qualifiers for T20 World Cup Qualification.

Domestic cricket season have already commenced in Czech Republic with regular T20 tournaments and a string of T10 tournaments being held across venues, in collaboration with European Cricket Network. Belgium and Luxembourg’s domestic season have also commenced, with T20 competitions across the premier and lower divisions.

Luxembourg T20I Tri-Series Squads & 2020 Domestic T20 Statistics

Luxembourg

Joost Mees (Captain), Advyth Manepalli, Ankush Nanda, James Barker, Marcus Cope, Mohit Dixit, Pankaj Malav, Reinhardt Heyns, Saransh Kulshretha, Scott Browne, Shameek Vats, Tony Whiteman, Vikram Vijh & William Cope

Luxembourg players like Scott Browne (200 runs in 6 innings), Vikram Vijh (357 runs and 16 wickets in 10 innings), Reinhardt Heyns, Saransh Kulshretha (16 wickets in 10 innings), James Barker (117 runs in 6 innings) and Tony Whiteman (117 runs and 9 wickets in 8 innings) have played in domestic division 2 tournament in Belgium’s 2020 domestic season and will be crucial to the team’s chances of performing well in their conditions.

Czech Republic

Ed Knowles (Captain), Kushalkumar Mendon, Kyle Gilham, Sabawoon Davizi, Sudesh Wickramasekera, Naveed Ahmed, Sumit Pokhriyal, Siddarth Goud, Hilal Ahmad, Surya Rengarajan, Honey Gori, Shripal Gajjar and Arun Ashokan

Belgium

Shaheryar Butt (Captain), Nemish Mehta, Jamil Syed Mussayab, Mamoon Latif, Wahidullah Usmani, Murid Ekrami, Zakhil Saber, Gurnam Singh, Ashiqullah Said, Sazzad Hosen, Muhammad Muneeb, Raja Saqlain, Khalid Ahmadi and Sherul Mehta

Luxembourg T20I Tri-Series Schedule (Local Timings)

National players of Malta will also play an internal match between them as players will be split into a Malta XI and a Malta Select XI squad, which will be an internal selection strategy for the selection of Malta squad for International matches. Malta will be heading to Spain in May 2020 to compete against the host’s, along with Italy, Norway, France, Bulgaria, Israel and Cyprus in Europe Qualifier A from May 16th – 22nd, 2020.

Czech Republic will be travelling to Belgium, where they compete against the host’s, along with Denmark, Austria, Romania, Portugal, Isle of Man and Serbia in Europe Qualifier B from Jun 10th – 16th, 2020. Czech Republic toured Malta in Oct 2019, where they won the Valletta Cup (4-nation Quadrangular), enroute to creating some individual T20I world records as well.

Czech Republic tour of Malta Fixtures (Timings Local)

14th March 2020: Malta v Czech Republic (9am) ; Malta v Czech Republic (1:30pm)

15th March 2020: Malta v Czech Republic (9am) ; Malta XI v Malta Select XI (1:30pm)

Czech Republic Squad

Ed Knowles (Captain), Hilal Ahmad, Kyle Gilham, Arshad Hayat, Shaun Dalton, Kushalkumar Mendon, Sabawoon Davizi, Sumit Pokhriyal, Paul Taylor, Naveed Ahmad, Sudesh Wickramasekara, Siddarth Goud and Keyur Mehta

Czech Republic registered 2 T20I wins in the tournament (both coming against Malta), while Hungary registered 4 T20 wins in the event. The Host’s Malta had an unsuccessful outing in the T20I games, without registering a win. For Iceland, it was their first major tournament that included 3 ICC Associate member countries, and although they could not win any games, the experience will be invaluable for their future assignments.

Sabawoon Davizi was adjudged as the player of the tournament, who created the T20I world record by becoming the first player to score a T20I century and picking up 4 wickets in the same game against Malta. Davizi broke the record earlier held by Australia’s Glenn Maxwell (T20I Century/3 wickets vs England at Hobart in 2018).

Sabawoon Davizi  (Czech Republic – 253 Runs) was the highest run-scorer in the tournament including 2 half-centuries and a century, followed by Derrick Deonarain (Iceland) with 132 Runs, Zeeshan Kukihel (Hungary) with 125 Runs, Nowell Khosla (Malta) with 90 Runs & Honey Gori (Czech Republic) with 85 Runs to their names. Kushal Mendon (Czech Republic) was the highest wicket-taker with 11 Wickets, followed by Honey Gori (Czech Republic) with 7 Wickets, and Sabawoon Davizi (Czech Republic), Keenan Botha  (Iceland), Prabath Weerasooriya  (Iceland), Harshvardhan Mandhyan  (Hungary) & Abishek Kheterpal  (Hungary) claiming 6 Wickets each in the tournament.

Brief Scores

Iceland 107/5 in 20 overs (Lee Nelson 49, Derick Deonarain 27, Keenan Botha 14 n.o, Ravinder Singh 3/9, Haroon Mughal 1/26, Bikram Arora 1/26) lost to Malta 110/3 in 18 overs (Bikram Arora 30 n.o, Jurg Hirschi 28, Sean Byrne 20, Prabhath Weerasooriya 2/20, Sadun Lankathilaka 1/25) by 7 wickets

(T20I) Czech Republic 148/5 in 20 overs (Sabawoon Davizi 91, Hilal Ahmad 18 n.o, Jurg Hirschi 2/13, Sujesh Appu 1/21, Ravinder Singh 1/36) beat Malta 136 all out in 18.2 overs (Haroon Mughal 31, Gopal Chaturvedi 25, Bikram Arora 15, Kushal Mendon 3/19, Sabawoon Davizi 2/8, Paul Taylor 2/28, Honey Gori 1/19) by 12 runs

Iceland 108/8 in 20 overs (Keenan Botha 27, Derick Deonarain 24, Sammy Gill 14, Habib Deldar 2/16, Abishek Kheterpal 1/10, Harshvardhan Mandhyan 1/13, Nishanta Liyanaye 1/22) lost to Hungary 109/5 in 15.4 overs (Zahir Safi Mohammed 56, Zeeshan Kukikhel 22, Prabhath Weerasooriya 4/22, Keenan Botha 1/31) by 5 wickets

Czech Republic 157/7 in 20 overs (Hilal Ahmad 47 n.o, Honey Gori 26, Arun Ashokan 18, Kyle Gilham 17 n.o, Keenan Botha 4/19, Sadun Lankathilaka 1/19) beat Iceland 72/7 in 20 overs (Lakmal Bandara 21, Derick Deonarain 20, Kushal Mendon 3/3, Paul Taylor 1/12, Honey Gori 1/17) by 85 runs

Czech Republic 100/8 in 20 overs (Ed Knowles 30 n.o, Arshad Hyat 21, Abishek Kheterpal 3/13, Zeeshan Kukikhel 2/7, Habib Deldar 1/17) lost to Hungary 101/3 in 17.2 overs (Stan Ahuja 32 n.o, Zeeshan Kukikhel 20, Steffan Gooch 18 n.o, Zahir Safi Mohammed 18, Paul Taylor 2/24, Kushal Mendon 1/27) by 7 wickets

Malta 94 all out in 16.1 overs (Novell Khosla 46, Harshvardhan Mandhyan 4/11, Shehroz Ali 2/11, Zeeshan Kukikhel 1/16) lost to Hungary 98/5 in 17.2 overs (Ali Haider 25 n.o, Maaz Bhaiji 24, Steffan Gooch 19, Jurg Hirschi 2/8, Waseem Abbas 1/17, Bikram Arora 1/18, Suhrid Roy 1/19) by 5 wickets

(SemiFinal#1 – T20I) Czech Republic 204/4 in 20 overs (Sabawoon Davizi 101, Honey Gori 43, Arun Ashokan 34, Sujesh Appu 1/26, Waseem Abbas 1/31) beat Malta 122 all out in 15.5 overs (Gopal Chaturvedi 24, Haroon Mughal 20, Novell Khosla 17, Sabawoon Davizi 4/15, Honey Gori 2/25, Rakshit Shoumyadeep 1/17) by 82 runs

(SemiFinal#2) Iceland 125/8 in 20 overs (Derick Deonarain 61, Abishek Kheterpal 2/24, Harshvardhan Mandhyan 1/14, Habib Deldar 1/24) lost to Hungary 126/1 in 15.3 overs (Zeeshan Kukikhel 55, Stan Ahuja 35 n.o, Steffan Gooch 24 n.o, Keenan Botha 1/8) by 9 wickets

(Final) Hungary 91 all out in 17.2 overs (Zeeshan Kukikhel 28, Marc Ahuja 25, Naveen Ahmed 4/14, Kushal Mendon 3/13, Honey Gori 3/20) lost to Czech Republic 97/2 in 11.4 overs (Sabawoon Davizi 57 n.o, Arun Ashokan 16 n.o, Habib Deldar 1/14, Zeeshan Kukikhel 1/16) by 8 wickets

Did you know that 20 countries have ODI status and 104 countries have T20I status? Or that Scotland will host New Zealand in ODI cricket in 2020? Or, Thailand will play in 2020 Women’s T20 World Cup in Australia? Or, Japan and Nigeria will play in 2020 ICC U19 CWC in South Africa? Most people are missing out on the world of Associate Cricket. Are you one of them? Follow us at www.facebook.com/czarsportzauto or www.twitter.com/Emerging_93 to get all updates and news about the Global Associate Cricket World and how it works outside the Test playing circuit.

All the team’s will be playing each other in a single round-robin group stage format, at the conclusion of which, the team’s will play the semi-final’s based on the points on the log table, with the final slated for 20th Oct 2019. All matches except the ones involving Iceland (non-ICC member currently) will be played with official T20I status and will carry points towards ICC Men’s T20I Team rankings.

Malta’s previous International assignment was in Apr 2019, when they toured Spain to take part in a 3-nation tournament (T20) at La Manga in Murcia, while Czech Republic were recently involved in the 2019 Continental Cup tournament held in Romania. Sudesh Wickramasekara of Czech Republic his the first ever T20I century for his country in the tournament.

Squads

Malta: Bikram Arora (Captain), Sam Aquilina, Nowell Khosla, Haroon Mughal, Sumair Khan, Sean Byrne, Waseem Abbas, Jurg Hirschi, Sujesh K Appu, Gopal Chaturvedi, Michael Goonetilleke, Ravinder Singh, Aneesh Tomy, Alex Meears & Suhrid Roy

Hungary: Abhijeet Marc Ahuja (Captain), Khaibar Deldar, Abhishek Stan Ahuja, Abhishek Kheterpal, Sufiyan Mohammed, Harshvardhan Mandhyan, Habib Deldar, Satyadeep Narayan, Safi Zahir, Zeeshan Kukikhel, Nishantha Liyange, Steffan Gooch, Ali Haider, Maaz Bhaiji, Shehroz Ali & Akramullah Malikzada

Czech Republic: Ed Knowles (Captain), Hilal Ahmad, Arun Ashokan, Shaun Dalton, Sabawoon Davizi, Kyle Gilham, Honey Gori, Siddarth Goud, Arshd Hyat, Naveen Khan, Kushal Mendon, Rakshit Shoumyadeep, Paul Taylor & Sudesh Wickramasekara

Iceland: Nolan Williams (Captain), Prabath Weerasooriya, Sadun Lankathilaka, Lakmal Bandara, Abhi Chauhan, Lee Nelson, Brendon Fernando, Dushan Bandara, Keenan Botha, Derick Deonarain, Leslie DCunha, Sammy Gill, Jakob Robertson & Kit Harris

Malta T20I Quadrangular Series Schedule

Sudesh Wickramasekara’s unbeaten 104 from 36 balls (century in 35 to equal the World Record) enabled Czech Republic to post 278, equalling the highest team T20I score recorded by Afghanistan. Czech Republic then bowled out Turkey for only 21 runs, thus winning the game by a margin of 257 runs, the biggest ever margin runs victory recorded in men’s T20I’s. Czech Republic broke the highest margin run win record made on the first day of the tournament, when Romania beat Turkey by 173 runs to beat the record held by Sri Lanka, when they beat Kenya by 172 runs in 2007 World Twenty20. In that match, Romania’s Sivakumar Periyalwar smashed 105 off 40 deliveries.

Host’s Romania have registered three wins in as many games to enter the tournament final on Sunday, and still have a final group stage match remaining. Czech Republic, Luxembourg and Austria are all tied at second place in the points table with a win against their names.

Luxembourg’s Ankush Nanda also created a T20I World Record by picking up 5/6 to register the best T20I bowling figures on debut, as Turkey were bowled out for 31 runs, which Luxembourg chased down in their 4th over to win the match by 9 wickets.

Cricket Russia achieved a record when they dismissed Turkey for only 14 runs to record for lowest Team total recorded in an T20 game (unofficial).

Romania remained undefeated after their three games in the group with comfortable wins over Bulgaria, Russia and Turkey. Bulgaria on the other hand, claimed two victories over Russia and Turkey.

This marked back-to-back tournaments being staged at Moara Vlasiei ground after the conclusion of 2018 Transylvania Cricket League a few days ago. For squad and schedule information on the 2019 edition of Continental Cup, click here.

Brief Scores:

Game 1: Turkey 36 all out in 10.3 overs (G. Alta 14, G. Toulantas 2/2, P. Florin 2/4) lost to Romania 37/1 in 3.2 overs (S. Nadigotla 21 n.o, T. Turan 1/4) by 9 wickets

Game 2: Romania 110 all out in 17 overs (V. Manani 31, I. Hussain 23, R. Muhamed 4/6, S. Jain 4/24) beat Russia 103/7 in 20 overs (S. Jain 36, P. Bairgond 29, A. Bevinje 1/6, G. Toulantas 1/17, I. Hussain 1/15) by 7 runs

Game 3: Turkey 14 all out in 7.3 overs (Metehan 6, S. Dakey 3/3, N. Britz 3/4, H. Talukdar 3/5) lost to Russia 15/3 in 2.4 overs (R. Bhati 2 n.o, G. Alta 3/3) by 7 wickets.

Game 4: Bulgaria 125/6 in 20 overs (H. Larov 41, H. Ahmed 19, J. Bickford 17 n.o, N. Britz 2/20, R. Muhamad 2/22) beat Russia 99 all out in 19.3 overs (N. Britz 18, P. Bairgand 14, H. Lakov 2/26) by 26 runs

Game 5: Romania 159/6 in 20 overs (R. Satheesan 52 n.o, S. Vashisht 17, A. Mughal 2/39) beat Bulgaria 114/6 in 20 overs (T. Nortura 43 n.o, G. Toulantas 1/2) by 45 runs.

Game 6: Turkey 76 all out (U. Ozman 29, P. Mishra 5/9, Nikolay 3/12) lost to Bulgaria 77/1 (P. Mishra 36 n.o) by 9 wickets

With uniform T20I status granted to men’s International matches between ICC members, the next year’s edition of the tournament will potentially see some records made and broken as it will be the case everywhere across the globe.