European 2nd Division Championships 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.

The Second Division has Jersey and Guernsey appearing in their first ever Championship after being granted Affiliate status, along with Norway and Hellas who topped the 2005 Affiliates Championship in Belgium. With so many new sides competing it is difficult to predict the outcome.

France appearing in their fifth Championship will be captained by Waseem Bhatti. They have a number of players making their debut and will be looking to go one better that 2004 when they finished runners up to Italy. Their most experienced players are former captain Shabir Hussain who at 41 along with 46 year old Guy Brumant will both be appearing in their fourth finals. Their leading wicket taker is 20 year old Arun Ayyavoorju with 10 wickets at an average of 15.40 to his credit.

Germany have a mixture of experience and youth in their side. They are led by Debanik Sengupta who will be appearing in his first Championship. He will have valuable support in former captain Salman Bhatti and Zaheer Ahmed who has appeared in all four previous Second Division campaigns. Ahmed a fine all rounder has captured 30 wickets at an average of 16.60 with Mark Brodersen with 431 runs as their leading run scorer.

Gibraltar, winners in 2000 and 2002 have twelve squad members who have appeared in the championship before. Three players Christian Rocca , Gary De'ath and Gareth Balban having competed in every Second Division campaign. The uncapped players in the squad are 17 year old wicket keeper batsman Kieron Ferrary and 18 year old Kabir Mirpuri who have both already represented Gibraltar at Under 17 level. The side is a blend of youth and experience with veterans Bob Brooks and Gary De'ath both 48 years of age are coming to the end of their international careers. Both will be keen to finish on a high note as the Gibraltarians go for their third trophy.

Guernsey appearing in their first Championship after getting Affiliate membership of the ICC in 2005. They are led by Andy Biggins of the Optomists Cricket Club who provide four of the squad. They have the experience of Ami Banerjee who played first class cricket in India and Lee Savident who played for Hampshire from 1994 until 2000 and was a member of the European side that played the MCC this year. Also in the squad is 19 year old Jamie Nussbamer who was the Guernsey Young Player of the Year in 2005 and who attended the ECC Cricket Academy in 2006.

Hellas or Greece as they are more commonly know will be competing for the first time since 2000 in the Second Division which coincidentally was also in Scotland. There most experienced players are George Stogiannos and Constantinos Vassilas who both played in all five matches in 2000. They will be looking to record their first ever victory at this level.

Israel who along with Gibraltar are appearing in their sixth championship have a relatively inexperienced squad with half their squad making their senior debut. They are captained by forty six year old Hillel Awasker who last played in the 2000 championship. He is a veteran of 39 ICC Trophy matches fist appearing against Hong Kong in 1982. At the other end of the age scale is 16 year old wicket keeper Shai Hayun who played in the 2002 Under 13 Championship.

Jersey the other Channel Islands side making their debut are captained by Australian Matthew Hague who along with a number of the squad work in the financial services sector. They have the distinction of having three sets of brothers in their squad which is a record for European competition. They are Peter and Jonny Gough, Bobby and Tom Minty and Nigel and Ian Crocker

Norway, winners of the 2005 Affiliates Championship, which they won without losing a match, will be looking to continue their good run as they participate in the Second Division for the first time. Eleven of their squad have appeared in European competition before with their most experienced players being Zeeshan Muhammad Ali, Syed Munawar Ahmed and Aziz Ataul. Ali with 400 runs to his name is the leading run scorer and with 16 wickets is equal wicket taker with Ataul.

It is hoped that the tournament as in 2000 will be blessed with good weather, as all the players look to impress and enhance their cricketing reputations