EKL News
November 2024
BOARD NEWS
As 2024 draws to a close we reflect on the past year, the successes and where we could have done better. On balance there were more of the first than the latter with the National Teams performances being one of the main highlights.
There is also a lot of hidden work that has gone on at the schools this year by our coaches. There have been over 3,000 kids who have participated through the courses offered at schools, separate intro sessions and after school clubs. We had enough kids to enter an event with an Estonian representative side and managed to have the MVP of the tournament, Ajinkya Kulkarni, with a solid all round performance.
However, our goal as a board is to set the visions and targets for the coming years and as such we are working on a 5 year plan which we will present to our members in the next AGM (March/April next year). In this we will outline how we wish to move towards helping support clubs grow, rather than all tasks being carried out by the EKL centrally.
We will also be targeting ways to improve the retention rates for women and children attending our courses and establishing more teams in their leagues.
We would like to extend a thanks to all those who have contributed to helping at events, representing Estonia or the EKL and look forward to what next year brings.
OPERATIONS
We come to the end of another massive year for Estonian domestic cricket, with 10 men’s and women’s tournaments taking place. A big thanks to all of the umpires, scorers and volunteers who helped make this possible. Congratulations to all of this year’s winners.
Meeste Siseliiga
Division 1 – Winners: Tallinn Stallions, Runners Up: Viking Stars
Division 2 – Winners: Saaremaa Kriketiklubi, Runners Up: Tallinn Rising Stars
Naiste Siseliiga
Winter 2024 – Winners: Saaremaa Meteoorid, Runners Up: Saaremaa Ükssarvikud
Autumn 2024 – Winners: Tiskre Penguins, Runners Up: Saaremaa Kriketiklubi
Meeste Esiliiga T10
Winners: Tallinn Stallions, Runners Up: Tallinn Strikers
Naiste Esiliiga T10
Winners: Ilvesed, Runners Up: Öökullid
Eesti Premium Liiga
Division 1 – Winners: Tallinn Strikers, Runners Up: Tallinn Hippos
Division 2 – Winners: Viking Stars, Runners Up: Tallinn Riders
Pro40 Liiga
Winners: Tallinn United, Runners Up: Tallinn Strikers
Super8 Liiga
Winners: Sinine Bulls, Runners Up: Tallinna Kriketiklubi
Applications for next year’s tournaments will be available soon, and we hope to have an even bigger domestic season in 2025!
DEVELOPMENT
A big year for development in Estonian cricket with 267 adults and 3519 kids taking part in introduction to cricket programs. We also had 5 coaches complete ICC Level 1 accreditation, 7 umpires complete ICC Level 1 accreditation, and both Georgina Sockett completed ICC Tutor training which expands our ability to run courses in Estonia.
Our school program was a huge success, with 25 schools visited and over 2500 kids participating across Tallinn and Tartu.
Regular trainings were held in both Tallinn and Tartu, giving opportunities for more juniors to play cricket regularly throughout the year.
We held 4 junior tournaments in 2024, with 3 tournaments in Tallinn and 1 in Tartu.
Tartu Pausita Kriketi Turniir
Winners: Tallinn, Runners Up: Tartu
Tallinna Pausita Kriketi Turniir
Winners: Tallinn Yellow, Runners Up: Tallinn Blue
Tallinna Tänava20 Kriketi Turniir
Winners: Tabasalu, Runners Up: EKL 2
Tallinna Pehmepalli Siseturniir
Winners: EKL Tallinn 2, Runners Up: EKL Tallinn 1
Junior training in Tallinn kicks off again from 12:00-13:00, Sunday January 5th at Õismäe Gümnaasium, Õismäe tee 50, 13512 Tallinn.
For more info on junior cricket click here
HIGH PERFORMANCE
2024 was a fantastic year for Estonia, with both National Teams picking up series wins, and our first Junior Representative team!
Junior
Our first ever junior representative team travelled to Austria to compete in the Autumn Cup and had some great performances, picking up their first win and playing competitive cricket in all matches.
Congratulations to everyone who participated and special recognition to Ajinkya Kulkarni who won player of the tournament.
Men’s National Team
This year the Men’s National Team competed in 2 ECI T10 tournaments, 2 T20 tournaments, World Cup Qualifiers and the European Cricket Championship resulting in a massive 39 matches played.
In an incredibly successful year, the team won 25 of these matches and finished the year at 67 in the T20i rankings. They won the ECI T10 series in Cyprus, the T20i series in Cyprus, retained the Baltic Cup and were desperately unlucky to finish runners up in the European Cricket Championship Challenger Division.
However the biggest success for the year was a fantastic World Cup qualifying campaign where their only loss was to eventual qualifier winners and hosts Guernsey. The team recorded their first T20i victories over Finland, Bulgaria, Malta and Czechia and impressed with their marked improvement in the 2 years since the last qualifiers.
We also acknowledge the incredible year that Sahil Chauhan had in international cricket, as he became the first Estonian player ever to score 1000 international runs in a year, which included his World Record fastest T20i century off just 27 balls. He also broke the record for most sixes in a T20i innings (18) and the highest score at number 4 (144) in a T20i.
2025 sees the men’s team head to Malta in May for both T10i and T20i series on the European Cricket Network, before hosting the Baltic Cup and a Bilateral T20i series against Gibraltar in July and August. The year concludes with the European Cricket Championship Challenger Division at Cartama Oval, Malaga in October.
For more info on the Men’s National Team click here
Women’s National Team
The year started with a difficult tour to Gibraltar, but the women bounced back with a strong 4-1 series win against Malta in the ECI T10 series held in Estonia.
Another tough tour followed in Cyprus, but they managed to pick up a T10 win against a very good Cyprus team. The year finished on a high, with victory over Finland in the final match of the Nordic Cup!
The women have now entered the T20i rankings for the first time and sit at number 73.
Congratulations to Annemari Vessik who achieved the first ever 5 wicket haul by an Estonian Women’s National Team player against Norway.
2025 sees the women’s team host Bulgaria in May for both T10i and T20i series on the European Cricket Network, before heading to Finland for a Trilateral T20i series against Finland and Norway in July. They then host Gibraltar for a Bilateral T20i series in August, before the year concludes with another home Bilateral T20i series in September against Czechia.
For more info on the Women’s National Team click here
