Barcelona

This weekend’s triangular T10 tournament, which sees the Spanish men’s team take on Italy and Croatia at the beautiful Montjuc Stadium overlooking Barcelona, marks the culmination of a fantastic year for Spanish cricket.

2024 has been a year to remember with both teams now established in the top 30 in the ICC T20I Rankings, and sitting at an all-time high of 24 for the women’s team and 29 for the men’s team. The men’s team also hold the record for the most consecutive T20I victories and will be looking to build on the 14 wins next year, and add to their other record, an impressive better win/loss ratio (35 wins and 8 losses) than any other nation in T20I ranking matches.

Following the Spanish women’s successful trip to Croatia at the end of October, where they won the T20I series 5-0, the men will look to follow in their footsteps and start the Christmas celebrations early in the T10 format that has been the springboard for their success.

After a busy year, captain Chris Munoz-Mills and vice-captain Yasir Ali are taking a well-deserved rest for this tri-series weekend. Congratulations to Awais Ahmed and Lorne Burns, who will take over the reins and share the duties in three games each, and to Muhammad Atif, the leading wicket taker in the ECN with more than 150 wickets, who will take on the role of vice-captain.

The squad to take on Italy and Croatia features other familiar faces, including the experienced Muhammad Ihsan, who has scored the most ever ECN runs with more than 5000, and Muhammad Babar, whose one-handed sixes caused such a stir on social media earlier in the year. There is also a four-strong contingent travelling from England, Alec Davidson Soler, Dani Long Martinez, Cris Gwilliam Lopez and Sebastian Hughes=Pinan. Good luck to Adnan Butt who will make his debut in this series.

Once again, the team will be lead by coach, Corey Rutgers, ably assisted by Alistair Priddle and both are looking forward to a fantastic weekend.

Quentin Hughes Piñan

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