Earlier in the semi-finals, VOC chased down Spain’s domestic T20 champions, Catalunya CC’s target of 130 to win and enter the final. Scott Edwards and Max O’Dowd were in the thick of the action, as they notched up their individual half-centuries to guide the team to victory.
The 2nd semi-final saw Findorff create an upset of sorts, as they defeated a much-fancied Denmark’s domestic T20 champions, Svanholm CC to book their place in the final. Findorff bowlers restricted Svanholm to only 88/4 in their 10 overs and chased it down inside 9 overs.
The first 2 days of action at La Manga saw domestic T20 champions from Romania (Cluj CC) , France (Dreux), Russia (St.Petersbug) and Italy (JJ Brescia) also taking part in the group stages. Brescia were leading their group, coming into the final days play, but were stripped of their points as one of the players was deemed ineligible to play for the club and they lost their place to Catalunya CC in the competition.
Dreux defended 82 runs against St.Petersburg to take the 5th place in the tournament, while Brescia defeated Cluj to claim the 7th spot in the competition.
Maxwell O’Dowd was adjudged player of the series, picking up 4 wickets and scoring 219 runs at a strike rate of above 250+, which included 3 half-centuries. Scott Edwards was the highest run-scorer, with 233 runs @58.25 runs across 5 games, and the majority of his runs came in the semi-finals and the final.
Muhammad Jafri (Brescia) with 137 runs, Ahmad Nabi (Dreux) with 134 runs and Muhammad Khan (Catalunya) with 128 runs, rounded off the top 5 scorers in the tournament. Among the bowlers, Syed Sherazi (Catalunya) with 9 wickets was the highest wicket-taker in the tournament, followed by Zeeshan Khan (Svanholm) with 8 wickets, Vijayakumar Gautam and Lalit Lalit (St.Petersburg) with 7 wickets each and Muhammad Iqbal (Brescia) & Pierce Fletcher (VOC) with 6 wickets each, rounding up the top 5.
For the uninitiated, the player information and the chants of “Maximoooooo” for the giant sixes in the small boundary outfield at La Manga in the commentary box were the highlights of the tournament, which showcased the club cricket culture and talent in the European continental region to global audiences over television and digital streaming.
ECL 2019 will also be remembered for introducing the global cricket superstar in Romanian Pavel Florin, Cluj CC president, who won all hearts with his passion for the game and not bothered by the silly critical remarks over his style of play from social media banters. So much so, that even yesteryear greats like Shane Warne and ICC personnel appreciating his contributions towards Romanian cricket.
