ECCL END OF SEASON REPORT.
It was congratulations to Sporting Alfas CC who after seven straight victories wrapped up the ECCL title by the end of July.Madrid based Alcorcon finished Runners Up with last season’s champions
La Manga ending their campaign in third position. Madrid United finished fourth and the “Wooden Spoon” coveted byMadrid, despite finishing their season with two excellent victories over Alcorconand La Manga.
For the first time Declaration / Time cricket was introduced into Division II. The new format held reservations for clubs as some players had only played the Limited Over version of the game.
However the season produced 24 outright results from 29 matches played with 4 clubs challenging for the Division II title for most of the season. Levante needing to win both matches on the final
weekend of cricket showed remarkable determination in winning both games to be crowned champions. La Manga II finished in second place with Alfas II in third position. Madrid II occupied the fourth place with Torrevieja fifth and Alicante based Intellectuals in last position.
Thirteen centuries were scored during the season, five in Division 1 and 8 in Division II. Tariq Ali of Alcorcon contributed two with a top score of 167 no. Alfas batsmen Phil Pennick and
Mark Spencer scored one each with Rizwan Shah of Madrid United. With the opportunity of batting for longer periods in Division II eight centuries were recorded. Vikash Singh of La Manga II scored two while the highest innings of
143no was achieved by Intellectuals batsman Hasham. Likewise bowlers enjoyed longer spells, six five wicket hauls were achieved with L. Brown of Torrevieja producing remarkable figures of 8 – 7.
League cricket was played on five different grounds during 2013 with Levante being the latest to host ECCL matches. A sixth venue at Sonseca will host some Division I games next season in
addition to hosting all matches in the new ECCL Division II Central league..
It was unfortunate that Cazadores andValenciacould not play league cricket during the season but neither club could commit to complete a full programme of fixtures. It is hoped that both clubs will
be able to return to the ECCL in the near future. In their inaugural season Levante proved to be a be a very well organised club both on and off the field. Their performances on the field of play fully justified the club winning the Division II championship.
October saw the ECCL champions Sporting Alfas defend their 2012 National title at La Manga. Once again they proved successful beating two Barcelona based teams Girona Warriors and the City Lions in two well contested matches. League Runners Up Alcorcon defeated Gorona Warriors to finish in third position.
In conclusion the ECCL are once again indebted to all of the umpires who travelled many kilometres to officiate. As always their contribution is much appreciated,
John Dye
ECCL Chairman. .