Hungary national cricket team

Hungary
ICC status Affiliate member[1] (2012)
ICC region Europe
Coach Unknown
Captain Andrew Leckonby
First international
v Bulgaria 2008
As of 8 July 2010

The Hungary national cricket team is a fledgling team which represents Hungary in international cricket competitions. In June 2012, Hungary was awarded the ICC affiliate member status in annual conference at Kuala Lumpur.[2]

In 2010, the team won the 2010 European Twenty20 Championship which was held in Skopje, Macedonia beating a strong Russian side in the final off the last ball.

2010 squad

The following table lists the players on the Hungary squad for the 2010 European Twenty20 Championship:[3]

2011: A year after the success detailed above, the team defended its crown in the same event, this time held on home soil at the new Sződliget GB Oval cricket ground. Having beaten Lithuania, Bulgaria and Macedonia in the group stages, Hungary then beat Croatia A in the semi-final before another convincing win against Bulgaria in the final, a match in which Haroon Abel starred with the ball and Eddie Allnutt with the bat. The leading Hungarian run-scorer over the seven days was Shiraz. Other successful new-comers to the side were native Hungarian all-rounder Tamas Torok and top-order batsman Marc Ahuja.

Also competing in the tournament were a Hungary A XI captained by Janos Matyasfalvi. Hungary A finished 6th out of the eight teams with Robin Sperling and Viktor Agoston being their best batsmen and Hungary Women's National player Brigi Hotea proving to be their most useful bowler. In July 2011, the teams were delighted with the opening of the purpose-built full-sized pitch (with artificial wicket) 20 km north of Budapest at Sződliget and look forward to hosting more international matches there. Various Hungarian league and cup fixtures have also been played at the ground in 2011 with the stand-out achievement so far being Guru's 142 not out for Baggy Blues against Phoenix, including 13 sixes, hit off around 50 balls.

The Sződliget cricket ground is the official home of the newly formed Spartans cricket club. The Hungarian T35 Cricket league 2011: Winners: Budapest Falcons (capt: Habib Deldar), Runners-Up: Baggy Blues (capt: Andrew Leckonby). The title came down to a final matchday head-to-head between these two teams with the Falcons winning by the narrowest of margins in the final over. Challengers came third in the league and Debrecen Falcons 4th. Spartans CC leapfrogged DCC in the final week to avoid the wooden-spoon. Guru of the Baggies may have hit some explosive runs but player of the season was arguably Abhishek of Budapest Falcons for his destructive bowling (twice claiming 6-fors) and for his useful runscoring.

The Hungarian T20 Cup 2011: Budapest Falcons beat Phoenix CC in a fairly one-sided final to complete the league and cup double for 2011.

Women's Cricket in 2011: Szekesfehervar remains the capital of Hungarian Women's cricket, mostly due to the efforts of local Englishman Andy Grieve. The national side, almost exclusively from that town and mostly younger than 20 years old, were runners-up in a competitive 4-nation tournament in Belgium in the summer of 2011 involving Germany, Belgium, Hungary and a Netherlands Select XI. The Hungarian women competed in a tournament in Vienna in early October 2011.

Youth Cricket in Hungary 2011: Youth cricket continues to grow in Hungary with several schools running cricket clubs and more initiatives due to be launched in 2012. The culmination of the season was the good-spirited youth tournament in mid-September held at Szodliget's GB Oval which saw around 90 under-19 players (some as young as 9) from all the leading youth cricket clubs taking part. The 'Bat and Ball' club of Budapest may have lifted the trophy but, arguably, the game itself was the clear winner.

New season 2012

The new season saw six teams (Budapest Falcons, Royal Tigers, Phoenix CC, Baggy Blues International, Spartans CC and Dunabogdány CC) forming the top division, with various other sides forming two development tiers. League matches started on 6 May. At the half-way stage of the season Dunabogdány were at the foot of the table and were thus relegated to Division 2. The remaining five clubs then played each other once more. On 2 September the Budapest Falcons CC retained the championship with Baggy Blues International again taking second place. Spartans CC somewhat surprising leap-frogged the Royal Tigers to snatch third spot in the last round. Sadly, none of these teams will represent Hungary in international club tournaments in 2013. Top run-scorers were Zeeshan of Phoenix CC, and Abhishek and Zahir of the Falcons. Leading wicket takers were Benjamin of Phoenix, three Falcons (Haroon, Habib and Abhishek) and Ranjit of Spartans.

The season also featured a t20 cup competition won by last year's winners The Budapest Falcons. Runners-up were the Royal Tigers.

A good number of matches for the Hungarian National Men's, Women's and Junior XIs were played. As ever, Hungary will provide a friendly welcome to various touring sides. In all, around 140–150 cricketers played cricket regularly in Hungary in 2012.

In mid-season, Hungarian cricketers were delighted with the news that Hungary has been accepted as an affiliate member of the ICC. From 9 to 15 September 2012, the Hungarian Men's National XI (defending champions) took on Serbia, Romania, A Welsh CB XI, Poland, Russia, Macedonia and Bulgaria in the popular annual Euro T20 tournament in Sofia, Bulgaria. The squad was very similar to the one which won on home soil in 2011.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "ICC Annual Conference in Kuala Lumpur". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 9 July 2012.
  2. ↑ "ICC Annual Conference in Kuala Lumpur". 28 June 2012. Archived from the original on 29 June 2012. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
  3. ↑ European Twenty20 Championships Macedonia squad

External links

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