January 4, 2020 - Cricket has been a part of life in Croatia for over 200 years, a tradition set to continue in June with the return of the Mediterranean Cricket League in Losinj.

One of the more unusual things I learned about the islands of Croatia soon after I bought my house on Hvar in 2002 was that the next island boasted some of the oldest history of cricket in Europe outside the UK and Ireland, dating back some 200 years. The story of cricket on Vis back in the early 19th century is a fascinating one, as is how the cricket tradition was continued and lives on today.

And Vis is not alone. Cricket on the Mediterranean is a 'thing', and this June will see the return of the Mediterranean Cricket League for the fifth year, this time hosted on the Croatian island of Losinj from June 4-11. I am grateful to Jeff Grizinic, Mediterranean Cricket League tournament director, for the following overview of cricket on the Med, the Mediterranean Cricket League, and more details on this event. You can follow the latest from the Mediterranean Cricket League on Facebook.

Want to learn more about some of the more unusual things to be found on Croatian islands? Here are 25 things to know.

Cricket has been recorded as having first been played in Europe by Admiral Nelson’s troops and sailors when stationed in Naples, Italy in 1793. The game spread and was played at an amateur level throughout the 19th and 20th century, the most famous of which was the Milan Cricket and Football Club, now known as AC Milan.

The European Cricket Council was founded in 1997 to revive cricket after it had fallen into decline in Europe during the World Wars. After having an initial membership of 14 countries the ECC now stretches to having 37 member countries across the continent, with the Netherlands, Scotland and Ireland having progressed to compete in recent ICC World Cup and Twenty20 World Cup.

Croatian Cricket

Croatia was first introduced to Cricket on the island of Vis some 200 years ago, when the English navy was stationed on the island and played to keep fitness levels and morale high, under the watch of Sir William Hoste. As a tribute to these sporting pioneers, the Sir William Hoste Cricket Club is currently an active Club based on Vis and playing against visiting teams to the island.

During the 1950/60’s a large number of Europeans, including many Croatians, migrated to cricket playing countries like Australia, South Africa and New Zealand and their children took to the game in their new country. Consequently, as these children grew older they would return to their parents’ country of birth bringing with them their new found love of Cricket.

In 1998 a collection of Cricket enthusiasts in Zagreb organised a team to play neighboring Slovenia. From this inauspicious start the Croatian Cricket Federation (CCF) was born, with its headquarters based at the Zagreb Cricket Club at the Mladost Sports and Recreation Centre in Zagreb.

Since 2000 Croatia has been a regular participant in various European Cricket Council tournaments and continues to be active, with regular games played against regional countries Slovenia, Belgium, Austria, Spain, Greece, Ireland, Wales, Hungary, Slovak Republic, Macedonia and Israel amongst others. Although there have been many tournaments over this time period, there is a requirement and a zest for more competition by all European countries since the International Cricket Council (ICC) scaled back its tournament involvement for many European cricket nations a few years ago.

History of Mediterranean Cricket League (MCL)

The Mediterranean Cricket League (MCL) was founded in 2015 and first played in June 2016, in Split, Croatia. The MCL was founded by Croatian national representative Jeff Grzinic and the Croatian Cricket Federation (CCF) as a way to give Croatian cricketers greater exposure to high class cricket played in tournament conditions to help develop its players and the game of cricket in Croatia. The MCL was designed to be a welcoming event for not only teams and players but wives, girlfriends/partners, children, friends and family alike. The MCL is 6 international team T20 tournament played over 4 days with each team playing 4 games over the 4 days. While developing the tournament structure in 2015, former Australian Test and One Day international cricketer of Croatian heritage, Simon Katich, became the Mediterranean Cricket League Ambassador and continues in the role to this day.

The MCL has quickly developed into a fiercely contested tournament that welcomes all teams from Europe and around the world and has a clear goal of developing Croatian and European cricket through attracting Europe’s (and the world’s) best teams and players to Croatia’s stunning shores with their family and friends. In the MCL’s first year Zagreb Cricket Club, Sir Oliver Cricket Club (Split), Porto-Montenegro Cricket Club (Montenegro), inaugural winner Ukraine National Team, Romanian Bears and Ambassadors of Cricket (India) took part and it was clear to see that there was an appetite for a professionally run and competitive tournament in Europe.

In its second edition at the Resnik MCL2017 hosted Zagreb Cricket Club, Sir Oliver Cricket Club, Romanian Bears, Cricket Timis (Romania) and Saaremaa Kriketi Klubi from Estonia, who won what was a fiercely contested and close tournament that was dominated by the batsman.

The third year of the event, MCL2018 saw the newly formed Australian entity Friends of Croatian Cricket(FOCC) enter a team, the ‘Boomerangs’ (made up predominately of Australian/Croatians) to compete against a local Croatia ‘A’ team, reigning champions from Estonia Saaremaa Kriketi Klubi, Salford Hawks (England), Kensington Cricket Club (India) and the ‘CBB’s’ (Thailand). The competition standard of MCL2018 went up another level with the ‘Boomerangs’ team from Australia taking tournament honors in their debut (as a team) at the 2018 edition of the tournament

MCL2016, MCL2017 and MCL2018 were played in the grounds of the truly delightful and welcoming Resnik Hotel, situated right on the stunning Adriatic Sea. The Resnik Hotel is nestled nicely between UNESCO towns of Trogir and the city of Split on Croatia’s Adriatic coastline and was a tranquil and ideal setting to establish Europe’s hottest T20 cricket tournament. The cricket ground within the Resnik Hotel grounds was purpose built to cater for the MCL and an incredible amount of work went on behind the scenes to develop the ground into a beautiful place to play international cricket and bring visitors to Croatia.

With three memorable tournaments successfully completed at the Resnik Hotel and the MCL quickly outgrowing its current location the MCL, Sir Oliver Cricket Club, Croatian Cricket Federation and Friends of Croatian Cricket set about finding a new location in which the MCL tournament could raise the bar even further and develop the tournament. After much work the Tucepi location, an hour south of Split was chosen as the new venue to take the MCL into the future.

MCL2019 was played in Tucepi, an ideal location with accommodation in a splendid 4 star hotel, outstanding playing facilities and infrastructure that raised the standard, professionalism and profile of the tournament and attracted more teams and spectators than previous years. MCL2019 featured Croatia 'A', last years champions Boomerangs, MCL2017 winners Saaremaa, and 2 of the strongest teams to be seen at an MCL, SledgeHammer Cricket Academy (India) and Warriors Cricket Club Qatar. Former Australian international player Brad Hogg joined the MCL as Ambassador for the event and also played for the Boomerangs which was a sure sign to the cricket world that the MCL had stamped its authority on Europe. The strong tournament was eventually won by Warriors Cricket Club Qatar who just held out pre-tournament favorites SledgeHammer Cricket Academy to take home the coveted MCL trophy.

In a very exciting move 2020 will see the Mediterranean Cricket League move to the magnificent island of Losinj, the first time the tournament will be held off the mainland. The MCL continues to grow and showcase new and fabulous locations in Croatia. MCL2020 In Losinj is going to be the most breathtaking yet!

Now with an even higher overall standard the MCL hopes that teams will not only play the tournament once but return to Croatia year after year forming strong friendships and networks, welcoming new teams and players into the European cricket family. So impressed was Brad Hogg with the Mediterranean Cricket League that he has again signed on to play in MCL2020, another positive sign that the MCL continues to raise the bar of expectation.

It is hoped that all teams, sponsors, supporters, family and friends enjoy their time at the MCL and are made to feel a very special part of the Mediterranean Cricket League. The MCL is a family friendly event that welcomes and caters to players’ wives, girlfriends/partners, children, supporters and spectators as well as making the ‘cricket experience’ for players a professional and entertaining one. MCL founder Jeff Grzinic, the Croatian Cricket Federation, Friends of Croatian Cricket, Zagreb Cricket Club and Sir Oliver Cricket Club have invested a great deal of resources to ensure that the Mediterranean Cricket League will remain European cricket’s ‘must play’ tournament for many years to come.

MCL TOURNAMENT BATTING, BOWLING, TEAM and OFFICIALS STATS

ALL TIME MCL LEADING RUNSCORERS Games Inn Runs Average High Score

Stuart Hook (SA) 12 11 791 71.90 178 Ayyaz Ahmed (ZG/CA)12 11 447 40.63 100* Chris Turkich (BG) 8 5 446 89.20 129* Armaan Peter (ZG) 12 9 407 45.22 97 Jeff Grzinic (SO/BG) 16 8 389 48.63 55* Ramesh Satheesan (RB) 8 7 325 46.42 95 Dan Lazarides (CA) 4 4 244 61.00 121 Azam Khan (SL) 4 3 243 60.75 119 Sajjad Tamoor (WQ) 4 0 233 00.00 75 Nikola Davidovic (SO/CA) 10 8 227 28.37 55*

ALL TIME MCL LEADING WICKET TAKERS Games WKTS Runs Ave Best Bowling

Jeff Grzinic (SO/BG) 16 26 423 16.27 5-11 Ramesh Satheesan (RB) 8 18 195 10.83 5-5 Chris Osborne (ZG/CA) 11 14 249 17.79 3-58 Nikola Davidovic (SO/CA) 11 14 266 19.00 4-40 Armaan Peter (ZG/CA) 12 14 338 24.14 3-37 Josip Jukic (SO/CA) 13 13 344 26.50 4-20 Kalle Vispaluu (SA) 12 13 398 30.62 3-23 Ankush Bhan (KC) 4 9 157 17.44 3-45 Shiva Arun (SA) 8 9 263 29.22 3-19 Tim Cross (SA) 12 9 303 33.67 2-26

MCL BATTING TOP 10 SCORES High Score

Stuart Hook (SA) 178 Rahul Yadav (SL) 157 Stuart Hook (SA) 148 Chris Turkich (BG) 129* Dan Lazarides (CA) 121 Azam Khan (SL) 119 Sattvik Nadigotla (CT) 109 Ayyaz Ahmed (ZG/CA) 100* Abishek Sonu (SA) 100 Armaan Peter (ZG/CA) & Ijaz Hussain (RB) 97

MCL BOWLING TOP 10 PERFORMANCES BEST BOWLING

Ramesh Satheesan (RB) 5-5 Jeff Grzinic (SO/BG) 5-11 Ramesh Satheesan (RB) 4-10 Josip Jukic (SO/CA) 4-20 Jason Saywood (PM) 4-23 Saket Kumar Malik (UK) 4-29 Nikola Davidovic (SO/CA) 4-40 Ramesh Satheesan (RB) 4-30 Shiv Kumar (RB) 3-3 Jeff Grzinic (SO/BG) 3-11

MCL HAT-TRICKS:

Jeff Grzinic (SO/BG) 3/21 Boomerangs v Croatia ‘A’, MCL2019, Tucepi, 23 May 2019

KEY:

Croatia A- CA Sir Oliver- SO

Zagreb CC- ZG Boomerangs- BG

Ukraine- UK Porto Montenegro- PM

Romanian Bears- RB Ambassadors of Cricket- AC

Cricket Timis- CT Saaremaa- SA

CBB- CB Salford Hawks- SH

Kensington India- KC SledgeHammer- SL

Warriors Qatar WQ

MCL HIGHEST TEAM SCORE:

4/376 (20 Overs) SledgeHammer Cricket Academy v Saaremaa Kriketi Klubi, MCL2019, Tucepi, 23 May 2019

MCL LOWEST TEAM SCORE:

All Out/ 68 (18 Overs) Zagreb Cricket Club v Ambassadors of Cricket, MCL2016, Resnik, 4 June 2016

MCL TOTAL GAMES PLAYED:

16- Jeff Grzinic (SO/CA)

15- Chris Osborne (ZG/CA)

13- Josip Jukic (SO/CA)

12- Mate Marovic (SO/CA), Ayyaz Ahmed (ZG/CA), Armaan Peter (ZG/CA), Tim Heath (SA), Stuart Hook (SA), Marko Vaik (SA), Kalle Vispaluu (SA) & Tim Cross (SA)

MCL GAMES UMPIRED:

MCL2019- Alex Mackay 5, Shrikant Ramadurg- 5, Bob Belcher- 5 Rex W. Evans- 5

MCL2018- Alex Mackay 8, Steve Tripp- 8, Tom Polich- 5, Rex W. Evans- 3

MCL2017- Alex Mackay 7, Steve Tripp- 7, Tom Polich- 6

MCL2016- Alex Mackay- 8, Steve Tripp- 8, Clive Puttock- 5, Posh Tim- 3

MCL TOTAL GAMES UMPIRED

Alex Mackay (Switzerland) 28

Steve Tripp (Belgium) 23

Tom Polich (Croatia) 12

Rex W. Evans (Australia) 8

Clive Puttock (Montenegro) 5

Shrikant Ramadurg (Australia) 5

Bob Belcher (Australia) 5

Posh Tim (Montenegro) 3

TOTAL MCL GAMES SCORED (Official)

Lidia Kucharska (Poland) 31 (MCL2017- 11, MCL2018- 10, MCL2019-10)

MCL2019 Final Results

Play WON LOSS BONUS PTS

Warriors Qatar 4 4 0 2 18

SledgeHammer 4 3 1 1 13

Boomerangs 4 2 2 0 8

Saaremaa 4 1 3 0 4

Croatia 'A' 4 0 4 0 0

MCL2018 Final Results

Play WON LOSS BONUS PTS

Boomerangs 4 4 0 1 17

Kensington 4 2 2 1 9

Saaremaa 4 3 1 0 12

Salford Hawks 4 1 3 1 5

CBB 4 2 2 0 8

Croatia A 4 0 4 0 0

MCL2017 Final Results

Play WON LOSS BONUS PTS

Saaremaa 4 3 1 0 13

Romania Bears 4 3 1 2 12

Zagreb CC 4 2 2 2 10

Cricket Timis 4 2 2 0 8

Sir Oliver CC 4 0 4 0 0

MCL2016 Final Results

Play WON LOSS BONUS PTS

Ukraine 4 4 0 0 16

Romania Bears 4 3 1 2 14

Sir Oliver Split 4 2 2 2 10

Ambassadors 3 2 1 0 8

Zagreb 4 1 3 0 4

Porto Montenegro 4 0 4 0 0

MCL2016, MCL2017, MCL2018 & MCL2019 AWARD WINNERS

MCL2019 TOURNAMENT CHAMPION Stuart Hook- SA

MCL2019 BEST BATSMAN Stuart Hook- SA

MCL2019 BEST BOWLER Owais Ahmed- WQ

MCL2019 SPIRIT OF CRICKET AWARD (Best ‘team’ at MCL as voted by the Umpires) Warriors Cricket Club Qatar

MCL2019 VUJNOVICH BEST CROATIAN PLAYER AWARD Dan Lazarides (CA)

MCL2019 ALL STAR TEAM

1. Stuart Hook (SA)

2. Dan Lazarides (CA)

3. Azam Khan (SL)

4. Sajjad Tamor WQ)

5. Rahul Yadav (SL)

6. Chris Turkich (BG)

7. Owais Ahmed (WQ)

8. Nived Mishra (SL)

9. Jeff Grzinic (BG)

10. Pradeep Mohanty (SL)

11. Brad Hogg (BG)

12. Daniel Turkich (BG)

MCL2018 TOURNAMENT CHAMPION

Chris Turkich (BG)

MCL2018 BEST BATSMAN

Chris Turkich (BG)

MCL2018 BEST BOWLER

Jeff Grzinic (BG)

MCL2018 ‘SPIRIT OF CRICKET AWARD’ (Best ‘team’ at MCL2018 as voted by umpires)

Saaremaa Kriketi Klubi

MCL2018 VUJNOVICH BEST CROATIAN PLAYER AWARD

Chris Turkich (BG)

MCL2018 ALL-STAR TEAM

Chris Turkich- (BG) Jeff Grzinic- (BG) Ayyza Ahmed- (CA) Stuart Hook- (SA) Jason Cook- (CB) Abishek Sonu- (SA) Viraj Sawant- (KC) Rohit Sashadri- (KC) Rylan Cannell- (BG) Shiva Arun- (SA) Ankush Bhan- (KC) Pipin Pappachan- (SH)

MCL2017 TOURNAMENT CHAMPION

Armaan Peter (ZG)

MCL2017 BEST BATSMAN

Armaan Peter (ZG)

MCL2017 BEST BOWLER (tied)

Ramesh Satheesan (RB)

Nikola Davidovic (SO)

MCL2017 ‘SPIRIT OF CRICKET AWARD’ (Best ‘team’ at MCL as voted by the Umpires)

Saaremaa Kriketi Klubi

MCL2017 VUJNOVICH BEST CROATIAN PLAYER AWARD

Armaan Peter (ZG)

MCL2017 ALL-STAR TEAM

Armaan Peter (ZG) Ramesh Satheesan (RB) Stuart Hook (SA) Nikola Davidovic (SO) Ijaz Hussain (RB) Sattvik Nadigotla (CT) Jeff Grzinic (SO) Vineeth Govind (SA) Chris Osborne (ZG) Saad Mohsin (RB) Max Walsh (SA) Kalle Vispaluu (SA)

MCL2016 TOURNAMENT CHAMPION

Ramesh Satheesan (RB)

MCL2016 BEST BATSMAN

Ayyaz Ahmed (ZG)

MCL2016 BEST BOWLER

Ramesh Satheesan (RB)

MCL2016 ‘SPIRIT OF CRICKET AWARD’ (Best ‘team’ at MCL as voted by the Umpires)

Porto-Montenegro Cricket Club

MCL2016 VUJNOVICH BEST CROATIAN PLAYER AWARD

Ayyaz Ahmed (ZG)

MCL2016 ALL-STAR TEAM