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When Andy Grieve, David Brown and Andrew Leckonby convened a meeting at Beckett's Irish Bar in downtown Budapest in March of this year, it was difficult not to be amazed by their naked ambition. With around 15 people - most of whom only had vague memories of playing cricket at school - in attendance, talk of a cricket league and international matches seemed like little more than a pipe dream. "Many people just scoffed," admits Grieve with a grin.

Yet the awards evening held in Budapest in October celebrated a successful first season with a full house and not one but two ambassadors in attendance (Alex Brooking and Ranjit Rae from Australia and India, respectively).

Throughout the spring and summer of 2007, the trio worked hard to bring their idea to life. Brown set up a team in his village of Dunabogdány, just north of Budapest, while Grieve continued training the students at the school he teaches at in Székesfehérvár (an hour's drive south west of the capital). They were joined by four other XIs - two works teams and two outfits founded at open training days in a Budapest park.

Sufiyan Mohammed hits out for Crown CC during the HCL final

Friendlies were arranged in May and June, then on 15th July the six teams embarked on the 15-match Hungarian Cricket League, played on two football pitches over the course of the summer. Around 100 players took part, with the top three teams all winning four matches and the bottom three teams all winning just once. Crown CC topped the league and then took the honours at Finals Day in October as well, although Genpact and Titanic both pushed them close.

Elsewhere, Grieve took his students on a 5-day trip to North Yorkshire in June, a real eye-opening experience. They also travelled to Slovenia in August and came away with the runners-up trophy in the Mezica Tournament - a huge shock and one that Grieve is particularly proud of.

"I talk about cricket to my students all the time, and the language of cricket is English. That in itself is great for the kids," he says. "We have practiced three or four times a week in the school car park since September 2006. I am not a big cricketer; the kids were really my inspiration for helping start the league. So to take them to Slovenia and then to present the trophy to our headmaster was wonderful."

The two Comenius teams in Prague

At the awards evening he praised the school he teaches at, Comenius Bilingual School in Székesfehérvár, who have supported cricket at the school financially and where double-bay nets have recently been installed. His school team took part in the Czech Schools Indoor Cricket Tournament in Prague in November, while in February he will take 11 of his schoolgirls (plus one half-British girl from another town) to Potsdam, Germany for the 2nd European Under 17 Ladies Tournament.

A further trip to Slovenia, this time for the adult national team, was also a taster of things to come. Although the team was given a cricketing lesson by the experienced home side, it hasn't put them off organising more international matches - Slovakia, Romania and the Czech Republic are being lined up for 2008. They have also booked their place in the Prague International Cricket Cup in August.

Two trips to Vienna, for the Viennese World Cup and for a club match, completed the amazing adventures of 2007.

There is genuine belief and enthusiasm from everyone involved that 2008 will be even bigger. With 170 registered players already, having ten teams in the league is a major goal (8 are already in the pipeline), as that is the government requirement to get official recognition. Most of the first batch of players were expats, but 2008 will see cricket being introduced at two of the universities in Budapest.

"Just recently we have received the confirmation and acceptance from the BME University in Budapest, to accept the official coaching of their students within their curriculum," says Brown.

"The coaching will begin in September 2008 and has the potential to give over 10,000 students, aged between 18 and 22, the chance to learn and play cricket. This is a massive step forward towards concreting the future of cricket here in Hungary. Already this year, we had Hungarians playing at a good standard and with the recent BME development, without doubt other naturally gifted Hungarians will be discovered."

Andy Grieve and David Brown ready for battle

Another university is opening its doors to cricket in March, so Brown has organised a tutor from the ICC Europe to come in June and conduct the ICC Introduction to Cricket course.

Now that the latent enthusiasm for cricket in Hungary has been discovered and the locals are being targeted, the Hungarian Cricket Association is looking for sponsors to help them invest in improving cricket facilities and in subsidising the national team. Meanwhile, former Hungary soccer captain János Bánfi has offered to make space for cricket when his children's coaching school Buda Juniors finds a new training ground.

While bigger and better facilities are always near the top of the agenda, the problem of getting cricket gear to Budapest has been solved with the opening of the Astral Cricket Shop in the north of the city.

And the cricket bandwagon didn't stop for winter either, a suitable venue in Budapest having been found for indoor training.

What will 2008 bring? More cricket, that's for sure.