After the excitement and successes of a fantastic 2024 for Spanish cricket, there is much to look forward to in 2025. A year which will offer the new challenge of 50 over cricket for the men’s team begins with a trip to Portugal for three days of cricket starting on Friday 31^st January between Spain and Portugal ‘A’ teams. The coaching team of Corey Rutgers and Alistair Priddle have selected a 13 man squad comprising eight players under 23 to play three T10 matches on Friday followed by four T20s over the weekend in Porto.

Having broken into the top 30 in the ICC T20I rankings last year, the Spanish team has built the platform for a chance to compete in international 50 over cricket. Plans are in place for inter-squad practice matches at La Manga in April followed by three 50 over matches in Copenhagen in May against a strong Denmark side. The trip to Portugal will provide experience for the young players chosen and also enable a number of others close to selection to stake their claim for a place in both the T20 and 50 over national side.

The batters selected for the ‘A’ tour include the hard-hitting Dani Martínez and the elegant and stylish left-hander Adnan Tahir who both performed well in the recent triangular T10 series against Italy and Croatia. There is a warm welcome back for Ravi Panchal, who has played for Spain for many years, together with a first call-up for Maanav Nayak, a talented young batter who is electric in the field. Gurvinder Bajwa will also make his T20 debut having earned his place with three hundreds in the ECS.

Other players who will make their T20 debuts include the all-rounder Mati Ur Rehman and exciting pace bowler Murad Ali, both of whom put in good T10 performances in the ECS and for the national team. It is also great to see the young left-arm seamers Jamie Riley and Jaffer Raza, both Spanish born, get their first call-ups. In the spin department, Cris Gwilliam-López will have the opportunity to build on his strong start in T10 cricket in making his T20 debut, joining fellow 18 year old left-arm spinner Charlie Rumistrewicz.

The T20s will be captained by the experienced Lorne Burns, who led the team to victory in the triangular tournament in Barcelona in December, and Alec Davidson Soler will be his deputy but will captain the side for the T10 games. While both of these all-rounders have played key roles in T10 and T20 games recently, Burns with his probing leg-spin and Davidson Soler a livewire behind the stump, with senior batters missing these games should offer more chances for each with the bat.

Quentin Hughes Pinan