Tony Munro

When no less an authority than Wisden Cricketer's Almanack says the game started in Estonia in a pub, then you're probably also entitled to believe the national captain's nocturnal activities had something to do with the high number of locals playing cricket.

Tim Heath, the captain, is alleged to have attracted dozens of native-born Estonians to cricket during visits to Tallinn's nightclubs, and perhaps he did, but that might be glossing over the Estonia Cricket Association's (ECA) comprehensive schools programme.

It is from this the ECA hopes to attract the next wave of players to eventually replace the seven Estonian-born players representing their country in the European Division Five tournament in Corfu this week. Among the locals are three 19-year-olds: top-order batsman Marko Vaik, opening bowler Kalle Vislapu and Gleb Bihanovs, a medium-pacer and lower-order batsman.
The trio are usually joined by about 20 other players who were born in the Baltic state and play in the fledgling four-team national league each week. In all, there are 50 registered Estonian players. There'll be further development when a schools tournament will be held at the Tallinn Hippodrome, the main venue for cricket, on September 20.

Meanwhile, Estonia will leave behind the familiar Notts matting pitch in Tallinn for the turf wickets of Corfu where they hope success in unofficial tournaments carries over to the real thing. Last year, Estonia won the inaugural Euro Twenty20 tournament in Carmel, North Wales, defeating the Czech Republic twice, Russia and a Cricket Board of Wales XI.

The Division Five tournament also includes Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Greece, Sweden and Turkey.

Estonia Tim Heath (capt), Murali Obali, Vineeth Govind, Shiva Arunanchalam, Kristian Kogeman (Estonian), Mart Tamooja (Estonian), Gleb Bihanovs (Estonian), Marko Vaik (Estonian), Kalle Vislapu (Estonian), Andres Burget (Estonian) (wk), Andrus Kambre (Estonian), Richard Barnwell, Martin Dungay.

Tony Munro

All four league teams in Estonia will comprise almost completely of locally born players following a nine-minute segment about cricket on national television.

"We now got well over 50 Estonian-born players on the books this season," enthused Estonian Cricket Association official James Ramsden this week.

The explosion of Estonian native-born players followed the feature on the current affairs show 'Pealtija' in February where several members of the Estonian national squad spoke of what it meant to them to play cricket for their adopted country.

Ramsden added that two non-league 'development' teams would be introduced to meet the demand from the new recruits. "They will play each other, as well as the league teams on a friendly basis. There is a very big possibility that one of these teams will be an all-womens' team."

The league, comprising four teams from the capital, Tallinn, kicked off last night with the first game of the Twenty20 section of the league between Kalev, the premier of the last two years, and Reval. Together with Tallinn CC and Old Boys CC, the four teams also contest a 50-over competition.

Ramsden said the Estonian Cricket Association was hopeful some junior development may take place outside Tallinn. "We've recently been to some schools outside of Tallinn to demonstrate cricket, and we're attending a PE teachers’ summer camp in Tartu to demonstrate cricket and hopefully sign up some schools from all over Estonia."

Back in Tallinn, improvements are being made to the Hippodrome field, with two double-bay nets being installed as well as a company being contracted to roll and do professional grass cutting to protect the outfield.

It will be an important season for the Estonian national team. They makes their debut on the official European representative scene when they compete in the Division Five tournament in Corfu in September. They return to Wales in July for the now annual Carmel Twenty20 tournament, as well as playing unofficial matches against Latvia and Lithuania. They also plays in the Helsinki Sixes.

The ECA regularly hosts touring teams, and would love to hear from you if your club is interested in visiting Estonia. For more information on Estonian cricket, click here.

By James Ramsden

	Oliver Slovodetsky bats for Reval © James Ramsden

Continue reading "Kalev clinch Estonian title"

Tony Munro

Possibly the biggest year in the history of cricket in Estonia will reach its climax today when Kalev CC, the defending champions, and the club with the largest number of native-born players, meets Reval CC in the final of the domestic league at the Tallinn Hippodrome. As befitting a final, the third meeting of the two teams this season (honours are one-all) will be played under more testing conditions, 30-overs-a-side, at the 125m x 120m ground, which sits within a racecourse.

Kalev CC is captained by Andres Burget, one of 15 Estonians in the four-team league, where all sides are based in the capital Tallinn. Estonian Cricket Association (ECA) officials are hopeful the league, first played last year, can expand next season to Parmu and Tartu, with as many as eight sides. (Click here for the ECA website.)

Also among the ECA development's plans for next year is to have cricket in some format played in six selected high schools in Tallinn. That possibility was increased by the recent acceptance of the ECA as an Affiliate member of the International Cricket Council, and media attention gained with Estonia's win in a Twenty20 tournament involving teams from eastern Europe.

Continue reading "A big day in Estonia"

It’s been a good week for Estonia, with membership to the ICC closely followed by being crowned Euro Twenty20 champions at the weekend. The final of the invitational competition was a close affair, but they beat the Czech Republic by four wickets with one ball remaining.

Continue reading "Estonia win Euro Twenty20 invitational"

Guernsey have become the 34th country to be granted Associate membership of the ICC after their application was unanimously approved during the annual conference in Dubai.

Vanuatu had also applied but they failed to meet the necessary playing requirements as they had not beaten two existing Associates in competition. Mozambique withdrew their application.

A further three countries from the Europe region - Bulgaria, Estonia and Turkey - were granted Affiliate status, taking the ICC's total member count to 104.

Next week's ICC annual get-together promises to have more than its fair share of politicking, posturing and controversy. But, unless there is a major about-turn, it should also be a watershed for the Associates and Affiliates.

In 2009, income from the ICC's six-year media deal with ESPN-Star, worth over US$1 billion, kicks in, and while the game's big boys will still keep the lion's share, the rest will see substantial increases in their incomes.

Continue reading "Future bright beyond the Test world"

Three countries have applied for ICC Affiliate membership and two more to be upgraded from Affiliate to Associate membership.

Bulgaria, Estonia and Turkey’s applications for Affiliate membership will be considered by the ICC and its annual conference in Dubai at the end of June.

Guernsey and Vanuatu have applied for an upgrade to Associate membership which, if successful, will mean a substantial increase in the funding available to their national associations.

Consideration of Vanuatu's application is subject to it meeting the playing standard criterion in its matches against existing Associates in the World Cricket League Division 5. An ICC team is inspecting the facilities in Guernsey this week.