Photo © ECC

Israel, starting their Spirit of Cricket weekend events early in order to avoid the Sabbath, kicked this year's initiative off in excellent style at Hadar Yosef. The highlight of the day was a 12-hour batting marathon, with 14 year old Dani Hotz, one of Israel's most promising young players, batting from 8.30 in the morning, through the afternoon and into the evening, eventually taking off his pads and laying down his bat at 20:30, having set a new European record for the longest time ever having spent batting in the nets.

For the full story, plus photos, click here.

Finland, bolstered by the presence of EDP coach Stuart Barnes and a TV crew from the World Sports Group recording an item for Channel 4's 'ICC Cricket World' show, celebrated a weekend of cricket in the historical surroundings of Suomenlinna - fortress islands just outside the Finnish capital, Helsinki - probably the first ever cricket event on a UNESCO-protected World Heritage area! Events included a Kwik Cricket workshop for 70 youngsters, and matches between MTS and the Finnish navy, the SKK women and MTS, and the Finnish national squad and a Rest of the League XI.

For the full story, plus photos, click here.

Estonia, meanwhile, was playing host to Dellor junior, who somehow managed to earn a full international rugby cap, appearing on the wing for Estonia against Finland in the second round of a tournament, on European Spirit of Cricket Weekend. Cricket is still very much in its infancy in Estonia, but an improving ground centrally located, a core of enthusiasts and an effort to get the game played in a dozen primary schools bodes well for the future.

For the full story, click here.

France hosted the finale of the hugely successful 'Imagination' roadshow in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower, with pounding disco music and shouts of "Let me hear you say 'Yeah!'" leaving locals and tourists alike thoroughly bemused. Approximately 60 enthusiastic French youngsters jumped like crickets (yes, really…), ran, threw, caught, batted and bowled, as South African coach, Mike Flockhart, and his two French counterparts, David Bordes and Jean-François Defez, wearing European Cricket Council flags as Batman and Robin style capes, cranked up the energy and excitement in spite of the huge black clouds looming overhead.

For the full story, plus photos, click here.

Italy invited EDP umpiring consultant Graham Cooper to stand in two of their league matches, the second of which, Capannelle vs Lazio, fell on European Spirit of Cricket Weekend. Graham was impressed both by the stringent regulations which ensure that the Italians are kept in the game at all times and are allowed to develop their abilities, preventing foreigners from monopolising the game at the expense of local talent, and by the players' appreciation of the Spirit of the Game.

For the full story, click here.

Switzerland hosted European Development Programme coach Ralph Dellor in the thriving cricket community of Cossonay. Many of the events planned for the weekend were blighted by the weather, but this did allow Ralph the time to address the Swiss Federation of Cricket Umpires and Scorers about the role of the coach in applying the Spirit of Cricket code. The weather relented long enough on the next day for children, and their parents, to venture out onto a basketball court for some practical activity.

For the full story, click here.

Photo © ECC

In Germany, Berlin CC hosted Prague CC for a friendly match. A great time was had by all and Berlin CC will be visiting the golden city in August. Prague is nearer than many German cities, so Berlin CC will be arranging more games against this friendly team (so friendly they let Berlin beat them (!) although this may have been due to the effects of the Berlin hospitality and the lack of licensing laws...)

Malta took the opportunity to introduce the game of Kwik-Cricket to their younger group aged 8-11 years. Some 75 boys & girls, together with their sport instructors, joined the Marsa C.C. at the Marsa Sports Club for a 2½-hour morning session with three of the MCA's cricket instructors put the kids through the techniques of fielding, catching, throwing, batting & running. Following the departure of the Skolasport youngsters, the seniors took to the nets for a hard practise session in preparation for the inaugural match between Marsa and Melita on the Sunday.

For the full story, click here.

Photo © ECC

In Northern Ireland, groups including the Regional U12s and U13s. practised at Shaw's Bridge Cricket ground in Belfast. The draw for the Girls Schools Cup was also made at Shaw's Bridge by Anna Coppel (Captain of current cup holders Methodist College, Belfast) Brian Walsh (Northern Ireland CDO) and Nicky McCready (ECB Level 2 qualified coach who has represented Ireland at U21 level and is on a placement year working with Brian Walsh to develop girls cricket).

In the Republic of Ireland, the fourth 'Fingal Schools Kwik Cricket Tournament' was again held at Rush CC on Sunday 5 May, with ten local schools participating. The event was a great success, with numbers up on the previous year. Schools were asked to send a squad of 14 players resulting in nearly 150 participants.

Many parents and teachers also paid visits which kept the group of helpers from Rush CC busy throughout the day. The tournament employed the Australian 'Super 8's' format, with each school playing a minimum of 3 games. The 'Dolan Family' sponsored cup was awarded to local school St Brendan's, who narrowly defeated Skerries school Realt na Mara in the final.

The event kick started a series of similar inter-schools tournaments that are currently being staged in other areas of Dublin during May and June.

Photo © ECC

Sweden were unfortunate with the weather during the weekend, and had to cancel the senior matches and shorten the duration of some events, but the juniors enjoyed a youth cricket festival in Gothenburg on the Saturday and fun sessions at Jinnah CC and SpĀnga Utd CC in Stockholm on the Sunday.

Photo © ECC

Romania's event was hosted by the American International School of Bucharest on 11 May, and was intended to introduce cricket to other Romanian schools, through introductory drills and exercises and with exhibition matches played by some of the students.

For the full story, plus photos, click here.

Photo © ECC

Slovakia held their events to coincide with their public holiday on 8 May, but found themselves competing with the celebrations for their national ice-hockey squad's first ever World Championship victory. The day was divided into two sections, with a 20 overs 6-a-side match in the morning, which attracted a number of spectators, and an introductory coaching session for around 15 enthusiastic children in the afternoon.

Bulgaria discovered a whole cricketing community which they were previously unaware of, when they held their event - a 20-over round-robin tournament between the local Indian, Pakistani and English expat communities - at the National Sports Academy in Sofia. The English team included a number of the Bulgarian students from the Academy who had previously been involved in a coaching weekend, in order to give them further exposure to the game.

For the full story, click here.

In Greece, mini cricket tournaments and other events were held in Corfu & Thessaloniki. The final round of the tournament in Thessaloniki will take place on the weekend 8/9 June, with members of the HCF Board in attendance. The events in Corfu were a great success, with many children playing mini cricket and trying to bat in the nets.

Photo © ECC

Azerbaijan rounded off the 2002 Spirit of Cricket events with a match between Azerbaijan and the Rest of the World. For the first time ever, the majority of the Azerbaijan team (or indeed any cricket team!) were Azerbaijani nationals. Azerbaijan took the field as the Rest of the World, led by British Ambassador, Andrew Tucker, chose to bat first. The Rest of the World ended their 24 overs on 178, whilst the Azerbaijani tail enders fought valiantly to push their score to a respectable 140 for 7 after their allotted 24 overs. Jeyhun Novruzov narrowly beat Amer Mir to winning the cup for best player on the Azerbaijan side, whilst Arif Hashmi was adjudged to have contributed most to the Rest of the World's success with his steady batting performance.

For the full story, click here.

Details of further events and photos will be added as they come in - watch this space!