European 1st Division Championship preview
The sixth European Championship will be held in Scotland from the 3rd to the 9th of August. It will be the second time that Scotland has hosted the Championship and the first time that an ECB XI will not be participating as the teams progress to a four league structure with promotion and relegation, as part of the ICC World Cricket League.. Thirty matches will be played over the seven days at twelve different venues in and around Glasgow. The matches involving Ireland, The Netherlands and Scotland will be official One Day Internationals and these fixtures will take place at Ayr Cricket Club's ground at New Cambusdoon.
Thirteen teams will be competing this time with Denmark, Ireland, Italy and the Netherlands joining hosts Scotland in the First Division.
The second Division consists of eight teams split into two groups with Germany, Gibraltar, Greece and Guernsey in Group 1 and France, Israel, Jersey and Norway in Group 2. Each team will play the others in a round robin format before progressing to the play offs. The team that finishes top after the play off stages will be promoted to Division 1 and the bottom two teams will be relegated to Division 3 where they will participate in 2007 against Division 3 sides for the right to play in the 2008 Division 2.
With Ireland, The Netherlands and Scotland qualifying for next year's World Cup it will be an ideal opportunity for their players to impress as the coaches move to finalise their squads. For the Danish and Italian sides it will be an opportunity to regroup and build for the future.
In the first Division Scotland will start as favourites to lift the trophy for the first time but will face stiff competition from both Ireland and The Netherlands. Nine of the squad who won the ICC Trophy in Ireland last year will be participating along with the addition of Neil MacRae and Neil McCallum of Grange who are both in prolific run scoring form this season, slow left arm spinner Ross Lyons of Clydesdale who has become in the last year an established member of the team appearing 17 times for his country, Gordon Goudie of Middlesex and uncapped Navdeep Poonia who has been released by Warwickshire for the One Day International against Ireland at Ayr on Saturday 5 August. Umair Mohammed who had a fine Under 23 tournament in Ireland and Omer Hussain have been called up to replace original selections Gavin Hamilton and Kyle Coetzer.
Ireland who won the inaugural tournament in 1996 and are current holders of the Intercontinental Cup have named an experienced squad under the captaincy of Trent Johnston ,with eight of their ICC Trophy side retaining their places. Niall O'Brien of Kent has been released by the county to play in the One Day Internationals against Scotland and The Netherlands. The only uncapped player in the squad is Kenny Carroll of Railway Union who won the Player of the Tournament at the Under 23 Championship in Dublin earlier this month. They have in Kyle McCallan and Peter Gillespie two players who have each reached the magical 100 cap mark, McCallan with 137 Ireland's most capped player and Gillespie with 106. They along with Scotland have had the benefit of playing in the revamped C & G Trophy this year
The Netherlands will be captained by Luuk van Troost who along with Tim de Leede will be appearing in their sixth consecutive Championship each having played 23 matches. They will be looking for their third trophy success having won on home soil in 1998 and then in Scotland in 2000. Their squad, the same as met Sri Lanka in July, includes nine players from last year's ICC Trophy campaign and there are no uncapped players. Ryan ten Doeschate of Essex has been released by the county to play in three matches. Included in the squad is Alexei Kervezee, who will be 17 in September, and will be appearing in his third European tournament of the year having already participated in the Under 17 and 19 tournaments. He made his senior debut for The Netherlands against Sri Lanka and was the tenth youngest player to play in an ODI. In the Under 19 Championship against Scotland he made a record breaking 152, the highest score by any batsman in a European competition.
Denmark, led by Freddie Klokker, have eleven of their 2005 ICC Trophy players with uncapped Gerrit Muller, Hamed Zaman and Rohit Kanaiya joining them. Zaman has already represented Denmark in this year's Under 23 tournament . The youngest player in their squad is Zishan Shah who will be nineteen on the first day of October. He has already represented his country at Under 15, 17, 19 and 23 levels as well as playing in the ICC Trophy last year. He recorded his first century in European cricket when he made 106 against Scotland in the Under 23 Championship in Dublin this year. In Thomas Hansen and Carsten Pedersen they have two players who have competed in each of the five previous European Championships with Hansen playing 22 matches and Pedersen 20. They will have in their side Husum Cricket Club's Gerrit Muller who played for Germany in 2002 but is now eligible to play for Denmark after an agreement was reached regarding players from that club between the Danish and German cricket authorities and the ECC and ICC.
Twelve of the Italian side, which is led by former Lancashire player Joe Scuderi, have played in the European Championship before. The newcomers are Nicholas Northcote and Nicola Puccio. The Italians won Division 2 in Belgium in 2004 and will be looking for an improvement in performances after failing to qualify for the 2006 ICC Trophy, although their record suggests that they might find it difficult. Their most experienced player is Valerio Zuppiroli who will be participating in his fourth campaign. He first appeared in the inaugural tournament in Denmark in 1996 In Scuderi they have a leader who has a wealth of experience having appeared for Australia Under 19's twenty years ago went on to play for Queensland, South Australia and Lancashire.
