For decades, Denmark has been the traditional powerhouse in Scandinavia but cricket in Sweden is on the rise.
Lund Cricket Club sealed a place at ECL20 by winning Sweden’s T20 Elite division final in a tense affair against Alby Cricket Club, clinching victory on the very last ball of the game.
Delving deeper, there are shades of Pavel Florin and Romania champions Cluj in the Swedish champions set up. Currently, Pavel is again taking the internet by storm with his performances in Australia. Of course, Pavel became a cricketing sensation after his exploits at ECL19, but the “Romanian Rocket” (as he has been dubbed by the Australian press), also proudly acts as Cluj club president.
Interestingly, all-rounder Dharmender Singh is also Lund’s chairman and can boast experience at a good level in Australia, Denmark and India. Dheeraj Malhotra, another seasoned all-rounder with a global grounding in the game in India, England, South Korea and the United States, scored over 700 runs and took 47 wickets last season. Sweden “A” Bowler Abdul Naser Baloch took over 50 wickets in a successful season for the club, which culminated in ECL20 qualification.
Established in 2004, Lund began very much as a social cricket club with many engineers and doctors enjoying games in Sweden, far away from their home comforts. In their early days, LCC took part in Denmark’s league structure before progressing to the Elite Division in Sweden.
“Lund is famous for its University, a University Hospital, an ancient cathedral and hosts world renowned companies like Ericsson and Sony. Over the years, more and more people have joined the club and the new talent has kept on coming as well,” said Lund’s Malhotra.
Sweden’s representatives will have one of the youngest teams at ECL20 with “60% under the age of 25” according to Malhotra.
V.O.C. Rotterdam were crowned Kings of European cricket when they won the first edition of the European Cricket League (ECL) in magnificent fashion at La Manga Club in Spain. Naturally, the “Kings of Europe”, V.O.C. Rotterdam will automatically return to defend their majestic trophy between May 31 and June 7, 2020.
We welcome Sweden’s Lund Cricket Club to the 2020 European Cricket League.