George Mathias
IT is crunch time in the European Cricket League as teams progress to the knockout stage.
Three teams are so far through to the knockouts.
They are Kent’s Tunbridge Wells, Italian outfit Brescia CC, and Northern Irish team Brigade.
Tunbridge Wells came second overall in their group, behind the Austrian Cricket Tigers.
They beat Austrian Cricket Tigers in the first Group A qualifier and defeated French outfit Dreux in the final.
The three will now progress into a round robin group to decide who will go into the final.
This week, group D were battling it out.
German outfit MSC Frankfurt topped the group, winning all five of their matches.
Belgian side Ostend Exiles, came second, winning all but one of their games whilst V.O.C Rotterdam made up the top three who will go into the round robin, winning three games and losing two.
It means the teams have been cut down to just 12.
The tournament is drawing closer to the final on March 18 following a successful tournament that has well and truly put cricket on the map in Europe.
The hot favorites are Tunbridge Wells, though the tournament has been full of surprises so far with teams from Italy and France beating the English and teams from countries not normally associated with cricket proving the sport is no longer the preserve of England, India and Australia.
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