As the summer of cricket in Australia approaches, you may have missed the unofficial start with the 2024 European Cricket Championships already underway.
Don’t know about the 2024 European Cricket Championships? Or the 2023 version? Then you should. Or try harder.
The England v Australia ODI series may be on currently, but it proves there’s too much meaningless cricket, too many who cares fixtures, and that’s where the 2024 European Cricket Championships is different. Every game matters.
Countries from all around Europe flock to Spain to soak up the sun and their best cricketers take up the challenge for what the European Cricket body themselves call “The Euros of Cricket”.
And unlike the Football Euros, the European Cricket Championships has so many more nations, and so many more chances for a winner. And minnows are celebrated and not punished.
Sure, unlike the Euros of Football, the Euros of Cricket doesn’t feature the best cricketers in the world. And it doesn’t have to. There’s no big names, massive egos or indeed above a Warehouse Cricket level of skill. The beauty of the European Cricket Championships is that it gives the average Cricket Joe dreams of playing semi-international cricket. And often leads to a spike in Ancestry.com to see if there are any distant links to any of these European Cricket nations.
That’s not to say that the players don’t give it everything. They do. And it’s hard not to catch the infectious enthusiasm.
And unlike the Euros of Football there’s no big stadiums full of overpriced tickets and expectant fans. Just a ground in Malaga that’s big enough to be professional, but small enough for many, many sixes.
Or Maximos, as they are called in European Cricket by one of the great sporting commentators Mr Maximoooo himself.
The commentary matches the on ground action, with enthusiasm mixed with a laid back style making every match about 100 times more watchable than any cricket broadcast involving Michale Slater and co.
But be careful if you’re at the ground, the Maximos are dangerous, or you might have to go and help look for the ball caught up in the savannah like grass mounds.
Avoiding the odd six would be worth it though, as the Spanish sun, Gabba grass wicket and marquees looks like a cricket fan’s heaven. Perhaps the ECC should get week long tours up and running. Maybe they do. Maybe we’ll do it.
One of the other great things is that for Australian audiences, the 2024 European Cricket Championships are on in prime time, and then continue all the way to early morning.
Perfect for night shift, insomniacs, overnight service station workers, and those sports loving freaks who will shorten their lives to soak up any kind of sport they can watch.
Plus the games are only 10 overs a side, meaning there are multiple games on every gameday, mixing up your day/night of cricket.
And the 10 over format, which also has time limits means the cricket is fast paced, with the only down time usually due to a missing ball that have been smashed out of the park. Or into the clumps of bush that line the Spanish field.
Not only time limits, but the 10 over usually ensures even the more mis-matched games are competitive for longer. Unlike competitions like the Big Bash in Australia where the results looks determined early, and there’s still another hour left. Not the European Cricket Championship. It’s all good eatin’.
The competition is already underway with the second tier nearing finals. So you can choose to join the fun now, and get ready to get into the top tier of the 2024 European Cricket Championships later.
Follow the competition results and standing in all its glory below.
2024 European Cricket Championships
You would have already missed this performance from European cricket powerhouse Estonia.
And that’s what you could be missing, every night, for every game.
And next time it might be the Isle of Man, or Belgium, or even Luxembourg. You just never know.
How can you not get into the 2024 European Cricket Championships. Don’t reg
