Long before Cricket Espana joined the ICC the National team were playing in International events. One such tournament organised by Guernsey Cricket took place on the island in 1990.
Spain participated in the event along with nine other sides and unfortunately did not have the best of times. Paired in group B with Belgium, Greece, Malta and Switzerland they lost all four games. They also came off second best in the ninth-tenth play off against Luxembourg.
Star player at the time for the Spanish side was Luis Rivero, an Australian in origin, who lived in Asturias. Belgium also had their former President Ken Farmiloe in their squad and his side went on to win Group B and contest the final against Guernsey.
Unfortunately for Ken the Belgiums lost out and it was the hosts that won the tournament. Apparently the visitors had Guernsey reeling at around 40 for 4 and a large appeal for a catch against Wakeford turned down at that point in the innings. The batsmen survived the appeal and went on to make an unbeaten 99 and swing the game away from Belgium. France, Germany and Austria were the other teams that took part.
For more information and statistics on the event please check out the newspaper cuttings on the link below…
https://www.cricket-belgium.com/wp-content/uploads/Guernsey-May-1990-1.pdf
Thanks to Paul Bradley for forwarding the documents and Ken Farmiloe for addition information.