Photo © ECC

From August 10ñ16, Vienna was the location for the 3rd ECC Trophy where 11 European ICC Affiliate nations battled it out to decide the ranking order for future ECC Tournaments. There should have been 12 teams but, unfortunately, Sweden had to withdraw, leaving the tournament organisers with a headache in deciding the format of what was now an 11 team set up. To come up with an equitable format was a major problem but the end result went down well with most of the participants.

The teams were placed into three leagues and the first three days were used to decide the positions of the teams within their respective leagues. These matches were played over 35 overs, with the first series of 3 matches staring at 9.00 each morning and the second starting at 14.00. Those who played in the morning thought that they had drawn the short straw ñ having to get up in time to catch the coach at 07.30. However, by the end of the first day everyone agreed that the morning session was by far the best to have. The reason? By about 13.00 the temperature had exceeded 35C, and those who had had a lie-in ended up playing in very uncomfortable conditions indeed.

At the end of the first three days the top three teams in each league (Norway, Greece and Malta) along with the best 2nd place team (Austria) played another round of matches between themselves to determine the top four placings. These matches were played over 50 overs and started at 11.00. The other seven teams played a further series of 35 over league matches to determine the placings from 5-11. It eventually came down to the final match of the tournament ñ Greece vs Norway ñ to determine the winner and qualifier for next seasons European Championships.

Photo © ECC

The Norwegians had performed extremely well throughout the week and went into the match as firm favourites, but soon found themselves in a serious situation after losing several wickets for not many runs. They fought doggedly and ended up with a creditable score of just over 200. The Greeks were, quite rightly, jubilant at restricting the Norwegians to this total, especially given the fact that Norway had produced several large scores throughout the week. They opened their innings full of hope but were never really allowed to blossom due to some tight bowling from the favourites. In the event Norway won an intriguing match by 23 runs and, with it, the ECC Trophy.

The final placings were as follows:

1.	Norway
2.	Austria
3.	Greece
4.	Malta
5.	Portugal
6.	Belgium
7.	Spain
8.	Finland
9.	Switzerland
10.	Croatia
11.	Luxembourg

The player of the tournament was Zeeshan Ali from Norway who excelled on all fronts, taking 16 wickets, scoring 2 centuries and taking 4 catches ñ a worthy winner indeed.

Photo © ECC

Recognition must go to all 11 nations, who played the game in the true spirit of cricket, thus making it a memorable and thoroughly enjoyable seven days. Thanks must also be paid to the tournament organising committee in Austria ñ Mike Bailey, Andrew and Karin Parker-Simpson and Walter Blaschke, who worked so hard to ensure that everything went smoothly. We must also not forget all the volunteers who helped during the week - manning the bar, preparing and supervising the grounds at Seebarn and Concordia, clearing up after each day's play, manning the scoreboards, scoring, umpiring, and, not least of all, preparing the numerous packed lunches each day for about 100 players and officials ñ all so that the teams could get on with the job of entertaining us with some excellent cricket. Many congratulations to everyone and here's to the next ECC Trophy in 2005.