Cricket España have named their squad for the T20I series with Finland in Helsinki that takes place at the Karava Stadium between the 16th and 18th of August.
The majority of the players represented Spain in the ICC Europe Division Two qualifier last year in Holland when the Spanish Bulls lost out to the Finnish Bears in their match up in Rotterdam. However, Spain did finish above Finland in third place behind Italy and Jersey in Group B courtesy of a superior net run rate, after the Bulls secured victories against Belgium and the Isle of Man.
Spain are currently ranked 41st in the world and Finland 63rd but the Finns have just come away from a positive performance away in Denmark and should move up the rankings when they are next published.
Spain´s squad comprises of players from Cataluyna and the ECCL. The Cataluyna contingent are Awais Ahmed, Yasir Ali, Muhammad Asjed, Vinod Kumar, Hamza Dar, Zulqarnan Haider and Kuldeep Karan. Yasir Ali recently played for Cataluyna CC in the ECL tournament at La Manga and represented Pakistan along with team mates Asjed, Dar and Haider in their winning effort in the Asia Cup at Montjuic Stadium in Barcelona last weekend. Kumar and Karan were also part of the Indian team that finished third in the four team competition.
The ECCL contingent includes Atif Mehmood and Sporting Alfas players Faran Afzal and Christian Munoz Mills. Pinatar Pirates have three players in the travelling party, Paul Hennessy, Ravi Panchal and Tom Vine.
The final members of the squad are Cricket España CEO John Howden, Team Manager Jamie Roper, physio Rob Francis and Team Coach Dave Gelling.
The team will travel from Barcelona and Alicante respectively, meeting up at Helsinki airport at lunch time of the 15th before travelling to their hotel. A development game will take place on the Friday and then back to back T20I games on the Saturday with a CRIIO event scheduled between the two games. Sunday sees the final T20I contest and then Spain fly back home early Monday morning.
