2019 Continental Cup (cricket)

The 2019 Continental Cup was a Twenty20 International (T20I) cricket tournament held in Romania between 29 August and 1 September 2019.[1][2] The hosts were the defending champions, having won the previous edition in 2018.[3]

2019 Continental Cup
Dates29 August – 1 September 2019
Cricket formatTwenty20 International
Tournament format(s)Round-robin, final
Host(s) Romania
Champions Austria
Runners-up Czech Republic
Participants5
Matches11
Most runsCzech Republic Sudesh Wickramasekara (219)
Most wicketsAustria Bilal Zalmai (9)
← 2018
2021

The format was originally to be two groups of three teams played over the first two days, followed by a series of play-off matches.[4] However, after Russia withdrew two days before the tournament, the format was changed to a single round-robin stage followed by a final.[5] The participating teams were hosts Romania, along with Austria, Czech Republic, Luxembourg and Turkey.[1] All five teams played their first matches with T20I status during this tournament, following the decision of the ICC to grant full Twenty20 International status to all its members from 1 January 2019.[6] Austria topped the round-robin stage and went on to defeat the Czech Republic in the final.

A number of T20I records were set during the tournament, particularly in games against Turkey who had been affected by visa problems resulting in many of their best players not being able to travel to Romania.[7] These included Czech Republic's winning margin of 257 runs, in a game that also saw Sudesh Wickramasekara equal the fastest century in T20I cricket.[7]

Squads

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  Austria[8]   Czech Republic[9]   Luxembourg[10]   Romania[11]   Turkey
  • Razmal Shigiwal (c)
  • Habib Ahmadzai
  • Mirza Ahsan
  • Abdullah Akbarjan
  • Arsalan Arif
  • Zeshan Arif
  • Abrar Bilal
  • Aqib Iqbal
  • Kunal Joshi
  • Anthony Lark
  • Amit Nathwani
  • Abdul Rahman
  • Mark Simpson-Parker
  • Bilal Zalmai
  • Edward Knowles (c)
  • Hilal Ahmad
  • Naveed Ahmed
  • Shaun Dalton
  • Sabawoon Davizi
  • Honey Gori
  • Arshad Hayat
  • Kushalkumar Mendon
  • Christopher Pearce
  • Sumit Pokhriyal
  • Shoumyadeep Rakshit
  • Paul Taylor
  • Sameera Waththage
  • Sudesh Wickramasekara
  • Tony Whiteman (c)
  • James Barker
  • Timothy Barker
  • Marcus Cope
  • Mohit Dixit
  • Chris Fry
  • Atif Kamal
  • Joost Mees
  • Ankush Nanda
  • Richard Neale
  • Suhail Sadiq
  • Girish Venkateswaran
  • Vikram Vijh
  • Roshan Vishwanath
  • Ramesh Satheesan (c)
  • Petre Danci
  • Pavel Florin
  • Laurentiu Gherasim
  • Imran Haider
  • Ijaz Hussain
  • Sadeeq Khan
  • Rajesh Kumar
  • Gohar Manan
  • Dharmendra Manani
  • Satvik Nadigotla
  • Sivakumar Periyalwar
  • Rajendra Pisal
  • Abdul Shakoor
  • Shantanu Vashisht
  • Cosmin Zavoiu
  • Recep Ulutuna (c)
  • Cengiz Akyüz
  • Hasan Alta
  • Ahmet Dursak
  • Osman Goker
  • Hasan Helva
  • Serdar Kansoy
  • Serkan Kizilkaya
  • Mehmet Koc
  • Ali Kose
  • Mehmat Sert
  • Tunahan Turan
  • Ali Türkmen
  • Tunahan Ulutuna

Round-robin

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Points table

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Team[12] Pld W L T NR Pts NRR Status
  Austria 4 3 1 0 0 6 3.816 Advanced to the final
  Czech Republic 4 3 1 0 0 6 3.686
  Romania 4 3 1 0 0 6 2.848
  Luxembourg 4 1 3 0 0 2 -1.232
  Turkey 4 0 4 0 0 0 -10.674

Fixtures

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29 August 2019
09:00
Scorecard
Romania  
137/7 (20 overs)
v
  Austria
106 (19.4 overs)
Ijaz Hussain 35 (36)
Bilal Zalmai 4/12 (4 overs)
Anthony Lark 30 (41)
Ramesh Satheesan 3/14 (4 overs)
Romania won by 31 runs
Moara Vlasiei Cricket Ground, Ilfov County
Umpires: Mark Jameson (Ger) and Thomas Kentorp (Den)
  • Austria won the toss and elected to field.
  • Pavel Florin, Laurentiu Gherasim, Imran Haider, Ijaz Hussain, Sadeeq Khan, Rajesh Kumar, Gohar Manan, Sivakumar Periyalwar, Ramesh Satheesan, Shantanu Vashisht, Cosmin Zavoiu (Rom), Habib Ahmadzai, Mirza Ahsan, Abdullah Akbarjan, Abrar Bilal, Aqib Iqbal, Kunal Joshi, Anthony Lark, Amit Nathwani, Razmal Shigiwal, Mark Simpson-Parker and Bilal Zalmai (Aut) all made their T20I debuts.
  • Austria and Romania both played their first men's T20I match.

29 August 2019
12:15
Scorecard
Turkey  
28 (11.3 overs)
v
  Luxembourg
29/2 (3.1 overs)
Hasan Helva 7 (15)
Ankush Nanda 5/6 (2.3 overs)
Vikram Vijh 11* (3)
Serkan Kizilkaya 2/9 (1 over)
Luxembourg won by 8 wickets
Moara Vlasiei Cricket Ground, Ilfov County
Umpires: Mark Jameson (Ger) and Thomas Kentorp (Den)
  • Turkey won the toss and elected to bat.
  • Timothy Barker, Chris Fry, Atif Kamal, Joost Mees, Ankush Nanda, Richard Neale, Suhail Sadiq, Girish Venkateswaran, Vikram Vijh, Roshan Vishwanath, Tony Whiteman (Lux), Cengiz Akyüz, Hasan Alta, Ahmet Dursak, Hasan Helva, Serdar Kansoy, Serkan Kizilkaya, Ali Kose, Mehmat Sert, Tunahan Turan, Recep Ulutuna and Tunahan Ulutuna (Tur) all made their T20I debuts.
  • Luxembourg and Turkey both played their first men's T20I match.
  • Ankush Nanda became the first bowler for Luxembourg to take a five-wicket haul in T20Is and took the best figures on debut in a T20I match.[13]
  • Turkey's score was the lowest team total in a completed T20I match.[13]
  • This was the highest margin of victory in T20I in terms of balls remaining, until beaten by Austria later in the tournament.

29 August 2019
15:30
Scorecard
Romania  
226/6 (20 overs)
v
  Turkey
53 (13 overs)
Sivakumar Periyalwar 105* (40)
Serkan Kizilkaya 2/10 (3 overs)
Mehmat Sert 16 (27)
Cosmin Zavoiu 3/4 (1 over)
Romania won by 173 runs
Moara Vlasiei Cricket Ground, Ilfov County
Umpires: Andrew Begg (Rom) and Thomas Kentorp (Den)
  • Turkey won the toss and elected to field.
  • Petre Danci, Dharmendra Manani, Satvik Nadigotla, Rajendra Pisal, Abdul Shakoor (Rom), Osman Goker and Mehmet Koc (Tur) all made their T20I debuts.
  • Sivakumar Periyalwar became the first batsman for Romania to score a century in T20Is.
  • This was the highest margin of victory by runs in a T20I until beaten by Czech Republic the following day.[13]

30 August 2019
09:00
Scorecard
Czech Republic  
125/7 (20 overs)
v
  Austria
126/2 (14.4 overs)
Sudesh Wickramasekara 52 (33)
Abdullah Akbarjan 2/20 (4 overs)
Bilal Zalmai 45 (23)
Arshad Hayat 2/15 (3 overs)
Austria won by 8 wickets
Moara Vlasiei Cricket Ground, Ilfov County
Umpires: Mark Jameson (Ger) and Thomas Kentorp (Den)
  • Austria won the toss and elected to field.
  • Abdul Rahman (Aut), Hilal Ahmad, Naveed Ahmed, Honey Gori, Arshad Hayat, Edward Knowles, Kushalkumar Mendon, Sumit Pokhriyal, Shoumyadeep Rakshit, Paul Taylor, Sameera Waththage and Sudesh Wickramasekara (Cze) all made their T20I debuts.
  • Czech Republic played their first men's T20I match.

30 August 2019
12:15
Scorecard
Luxembourg  
127 (17.4 overs)
v
  Romania
129/3 (15.3 overs)
Vikram Vijh 64* (61)
Ramesh Satheesan 3/16 (4 overs)
Ijaz Hussain 40 (25)
Marcus Cope 2/23 (3 overs)
Romania won by 7 wickets
Moara Vlasiei Cricket Ground, Ilfov County
Umpires: Mark Jameson (Ger) and Thomas Kentorp (Den)
  • Luxembourg won the toss and elected to bat.
  • James Barker, Marcus Cope and Mohit Dixit (Lux) all made their T20I debuts.

30 August 2019
15:30
Scorecard
Czech Republic  
278/4 (20 overs)
v
  Turkey
21 (8.3 overs)
Sudesh Wickramasekara 104* (36)
Mehmat Sert 2/38 (4 overs)
Mehmat Sert 12 (11)
Sameera Waththage 3/4 (3 overs)
Czech Republic won by 257 runs
Moara Vlasiei Cricket Ground, Ilfov County
Umpires: Andrew Begg (Rom) and Mark Jameson (Ger)

31 August 2019
09:00
Scorecard
Austria  
239/3 (20 overs)
v
  Luxembourg
104/8 (20 overs)
Razmal Shigiwal 53 (21)
Suhail Sadiq 1/32 (3 overs)
Mohit Dixit 38 (45)
Abdullah Akbarjan 3/20 (4 overs)
Austria won by 135 runs
Moara Vlasiei Cricket Ground, Ilfov County
Umpires: Mark Jameson (Ger) and Thomas Kentorp (Den)
  • Austria won the toss and elected to bat.
  • Zeshan Arif (Aut) made his T20I debut.

31 August 2019
12:15
Scorecard
Romania  
115/9 (20 overs)
v
  Czech Republic
116/4 (17.1 overs)
Gohar Manan 29 (20)
Paul Taylor 4/28 (4 overs)
Honey Gori 46 (32)
Rajesh Kumar 2/38 (4 overs)
Czech Republic won by 6 wickets
Moara Vlasiei Cricket Ground, Ilfov County
Umpires: Mark Jameson (Ger) and Thomas Kentorp (Den)
  • Czech Republic won the toss and elected to field.

31 August 2019
15:30
Scorecard
Turkey  
32 (8.5 overs)
v
  Austria
33/0 (2.4 overs)
Mehmat Sert 9* (12)
Zeshan Arif 4/10 (2.5 overs)
Arsalan Arif 26* (11)
Austria won by 10 wickets
Moara Vlasiei Cricket Ground, Ilfov County
Umpires: Andrew Begg (Rom) and Thomas Kentorp (Den)
  • Turkey won the toss and elected to bat.
  • Arsalan Arif (Aut) made his T20I debut.
  • This was the highest margin of victory in T20I in terms of balls remaining, beating the record set by Luxembourg earlier in the tournament.

1 September 2019
09:30
Scorecard
Luxembourg  
145/5 (20 overs)
v
  Czech Republic
148/4 (15.5 overs)
Girish Venkateswaran 59 (44)
Paul Taylor 2/27 (4 overs)
Honey Gori 66 (37)
Ankush Nanda 2/5 (0.5 overs)
Czech Republic won by 6 wickets
Moara Vlasiei Cricket Ground, Ilfov County
Umpires: Mark Jameson (Ger) and Thomas Kentorp (Den)
  • Czech Republic won the toss and elected to field.

Final

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1 September 2019
13:00
Scorecard
Austria  
193/4 (20 overs)
v
  Czech Republic
163 (18.5 overs)
Bilal Zalmai 111* (58)
Sameera Waththage 1/22 (3 overs)
Kushalkumar Mendon 40* (26)
Anthony Lark 3/20 (3.5 overs)
Austria won by 30 runs
Moara Vlasiei Cricket Ground, Ilfov County
Umpires: Mark Jameson (Ger) and Thomas Kentorp (Den)
  • Czech Republic won the toss and elected to field.
  • Bilal Zalmai became the first batsman for Austria to score a century in T20Is.

References

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  1. ^ a b "Continental Cricket Cup 2019". Cricket Romania via Facebook. 14 August 2019. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
  2. ^ "Continental Cup 2019 - Fixtures and Results". Cricinfo. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
  3. ^ @CricketRomania (12 July 2018). "Congratulations to the Romanian team as winners of the Continental Cricket Cup 2018" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  4. ^ "Continental Cricket Cup 2019". Cricket Romania via Facebook. 23 August 2019. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
  5. ^ "Continental Cricket Cup 2019". Cricket Romania via Facebook. 27 August 2019. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
  6. ^ "All T20 matches between ICC members to get international status". International Cricket Council. 26 April 2018. Retrieved 2 August 2019.
  7. ^ a b "The day Czech Republic held four world records in cricket". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 25 December 2019.
  8. ^ "AUSTRIA NT heading to Romania to participate in Continental Cricket Cup". Austrian Cricket Association (via Facebook). 28 August 2019. Retrieved 3 September 2019.
  9. ^ @CzechCricket (16 August 2019). "In 2 weeks our national team will travel to Romania for the Continental Cricket Cup" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  10. ^ "Luxembourg cricket team to compete in Continental Cup in Romania". Luxembourg Chronicle. 26 August 2019. Retrieved 26 August 2019.
  11. ^ "Romania's squad for the fifth Continental Cricket Cup". Cricket Romania (via Facebook). 27 August 2019. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
  12. ^ "Continental Cup 2019". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
  13. ^ a b c "Record breaking day in Romania". Cricket Europe. 29 August 2019. Archived from the original on 30 August 2019. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
  14. ^ a b c d "More records tumble in Romania". Cricket Europe. 30 August 2019. Archived from the original on 30 August 2019. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
  15. ^ "Are New Zealand's four golden ducks against Sri Lanka a T20I record?". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 10 September 2019.
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