Heritage and Foleys win Cyprus school cricket tournament

By Richard Boxall
The weekend was an eventful one for cricketers at all levels in Cyprus.

On Friday the annual junior schools cricket tournament was played at Heritage School, Limassol. This event, organised by Cyprus Cricket Association, did not take place in the previous two years due to coronavirus restrictions, so it was good to see thirteen teams of children – 7 teams of boys, 6 of girls – enjoying the chance to play competitive games against other schools, and there were some notable individual performances by players of both sexes.

After four and a half hours of matches under a hot sun, the winning teams emerged. In the boys’ final host school Heritage’s A-team defeated Episkopi B, while the Foleys A girls overcame the young team from Silverline, who had done extremely well to reach the final.

The Kataklysmos public holiday provided an opportunity for the Cyprus national team to put in some serious practice in preparation for their international matches in Finland in early July. The European Qualifiers for the T20 World Cup in 2024, which will be held in the West Indies and USA, give smaller countries like Cyprus the chance to progress through several stages of qualifying events, from which the successful teams will earn a place at the finals.

Cyprus will play in a round-robin group of five – their opponents being Romania, Isle of Man, Turkey and Serbia – followed by a play-off against a team from the other group (Italy, Sweden, Finland, Greece and Croatia). If they manage to win the event,
Cyprus would go on to the next qualifying stage.

The selectors have shortlisted 17 players who are taking part in the training sessions at Happy Valley, and the group will soon be slimmed down to the 14-man squad which will compete in Finland. Gurpartap Singh, skipper of the successful Punjab Lions team, has been appointed as team captain, and the experienced Richard Cox from England will again be the team coach.

In between there was another round of matches in the 2022 CCA #BAOGroup T20 Cup on Sunday. Group leaders Black Caps, Cyprus Moufflons and Punjab Lions all won to confirm top spot and a place in the second phase – a super-6 round to be played after the national team returns from Finland. Sri Lanka Lions have done enough to take the runners-up spot in Group B, but the other groups will not be settled until thelast round of matches next Sunday.

Results:
Group A
Black Caps 130 beat Riyaan 115-9 by 15 runs Limassol Moufflons 146-8 beat Nicosia Fighters 127 by 19 runs

Group B
Cyprus Moufflons 145-9 beat Limassol Bangladeshis 124 by 21 runs
Sri Lanka Lions 230-5 beat Nicosia Tigers 200-7 by 30 runs

Group C
Punjab Lions 187-9 beat Limassol Qalandars 148-9 by 39 runs
Limassol Zalmi won by walkover against Sri Lankans