The Luxembourg national cricket team travelled to Bucharest, Romania, on Wednesday 1 July to compete in the Continental Cricket Cup and returned having lifted the trophy.
Hungary made up the third team in the tournament where 4 group games and a final would be played. Tony Whiteman was captain of the Luxembourg team which comprised a healthy mix of experienced players and juniors making their mark at international level.
The hosts were Luxembourg’s first opponents on Friday morning on a grass wicket which was new to many of the players on the team. Luxembourg batted first and posted a total of 129 after a great start from Richard Neale who hit 51 before being bowled. Joost Mees and Tony Whiteman were the only ones to provide much help but 26 extras bumped the total up. In reply, Romania slumped to 41-9 with Richard Neale and Aanand Pandey both taking 3 wickets apiece and a further 2 from James Barker. A last wicket partnership of 77 got Romania close to the target but Luxembourg persevered to take an opening victory.
Luxembourg’s second game of the day was against Hungary, who batted first and got off to a great start at 112-1 off 14.3 overs. Yet the fall of 4 wickets for just 3 runs picked up by William Cope and James Barker steadied the run rate and restricted the final score to 156. A nervous start to the chase was aided by a well-needed impetuous strike from Timothy Barker of 42 from 43 balls. Very little resistance followed and Luxembourg got to a total of 138 runs, a defeat of 18 runs.
The second game versus Romania was delayed by a light rain which later in the day proved too much to play through. An outstanding opening partnership of 104 by Joost Mees (39) and Richard Neale (54) got the day off to a great start. William Heath and Timothy Barker got Luxembourg’s total to the highest score of the tournament of 160. The hosts got off to a poor start with 2 wickets by James Barker and tight bowling from Saransh Kulshresthe. Rain meant Luxembourg won on the Duckworth Lewis Method (scoring) and no further play during the day was played. Points were then shared between Luxembourg and Hungary with the weather proving too powerful for the state-of-the-art drainage system at the ground.
Having gained enough points in the first four games, Luxembourg found themselves in the final against Hungary. Luxembourg took to the field and could not pick up a wicket until 67 runs were posted in only 6.4 overs. James Barker made the breakthrough with a sharp stumping by William Heath. Anand Pattabiraman then took 2 wickets in two overs with one being a self-proclaimed caught-and-bowled of the tournament. Charles Ramsden finished off the innings with some very tight bowling. The chase started well with small partnerships but a few quick wickets stalled Luxembourg’s advantage. However Tony Whiteman and Saransh Kulshresthe took the team home with 3 balls to spare in a fantastic nail-biting finish.
Luxembourg jubilantly lifted the trophy and came home winners from a fabulously fought competition in a great spirit. Luxembourg proved that playing to a strategy and working as a team, they are a cricket team to be reckoned with and will be looking to build on this success to win other European tournaments.
