Mediterraean Cricket League (MCL)
History
The Mediterranean Cricket League (MCL) was 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 after an International Cricket Council (ICC) restructure saw regular national team tournaments disappear from the yearly Croatian cricket calendar. It was felt by the CCF and local cricketers that a yearly major international tournament was needed to keep the development of cricket going forward 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 currently a 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 international cricketer of Croatian heritage, Simon Katich, became the Mediterranean Cricket League Ambassador, a role in which he continues to occupy to this day. Since its formation 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. The first MCL tournament was hosted and played at the Resnik Hotel sporting ground in 2016 in Split, home of the Sir Oliver Cricket Club. In the MCL’s first year 2 Croatian clubs, Zagreb Cricket Club and Sir Oliver Cricket Club, Porto-Montenegro Cricket Club (Montenegro), Romanian Bears (Romania), Ambassadors of Cricket (India) and the inaugural winner Ukraine National Team all took part and it was clear to see that there was an appetite for a professionally run and competitive tournament in Europe.
Two more tournaments followed in 2017 and 2018 at the Resnik Hotel with Saaremaa Kriketi Klubi from Estonia winning MCL2017 and the ‘Boomerangs’ team from Australia (made up predominately of Australian Croatians) won the MCL2018 title and other teams such as Cricket Timis (Romania), Salford Hawks (England), Kensington Cricket Club (India) and the ‘CBB’s’ (Thailand) joined the MCL. In 2018 former Australian international player Brad Hogg officially joined Simon Katich as an MCL Ambassador. Brad had been supporting the event for many years and he signed up to play for the Boomerangs team in MCL2019 which was a sure sign to the cricket world that the MCL had stamped its authority on Europe.
In 2019 the MCL tournament moved to Tucepi. MCL2019 was played in yet another ideal location in a quality 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 in previous years. The playing standard increased once again with quality teams such as SledgeHammer Cricket Academy (India) and Warriors Cricket Club (Qatar) participating. The overwhelming success of MCL2019 in Tucepi saw the MCL field offers from other locations to host the event in 2020. The chosen location for MCL2020 was Losinj, one of the 1000 plus Croatian islands with the enviable reputation as being ‘Europe’s Number 1 Sports Island’. The MCL/Croatian Cricket are extremely proud and thrilled to be able to play our event in such an AMAZING location, one we are sure that player, officials and guests will thoroughly enjoy.
Unfortunately due to the global COVID-19 pandemic MCL2020 was cancelled.
Preparations are now well underway for MCL2021. The Croatian Cricket Federation and the MCL team have been working hard to ensure that MCL2021 will continue to raise expectations and provide the best T20 tournament in Europe yet. 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 will continue to be 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. The MCL board and the Croatian Cricket Federation 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.
For further information on the Mediterranean Cricket League please or email medcricket@mail.com Or visit the Mediterranean Cricket League website MedCricketLeague.com, Social Media Facebook- Mediterranean Cricket League, Twitter- @mclcriket, Instagram- medcricketleague or email medcricket@mail.com