Former Malahide CC player Atif Kamal reports that Belgium won the recent T20 Tri Series (ICC approved) in Luxembourg played over a long weekend 28-30 August 2020.  Each team (Lux, Belgium, Czech Republic) played each other twice.  The fancied Belgium won all four.  Lux and Czech won one game apiece.  Lux came second in the table on run rate.  Atif is the Lux bowling coach.  All matches were played on the premier ground in Lux, the Pierre Werner Cricket Ground.  All six matches were streamed live on Youtube.

BG          Were you happy with the tournament?
AK          Yes.  It was a very successful Series all round.  Organisationally all went well and thankfully from a Covid point of view there were no issues.  Belgium was the strongest outfit but we performed very creditably.  We were in contention in all games and finished second in the table which was a bonus.

BG          What were the positives from Lux point of view?
AK          Playing four games against good opposition has given us confidence and momentum.  The players had goals to work towards such as technique and fitness.  Also, I would say that the Series is a progression of our focus on T20 cricket.  Although we do play 40/45 over league cricket I think in the immediate future the Luxembourg national team will concentrate on T20.

BG          Were lessons learnt in the Series?
AK          T20 is a huge learning curve and all of us both on and off the pitch picked up something.  The more you play particularly against different and better opposition the more you learn.

BG          Was the Series reported in the Luxembourg media?
AK          Yes including an article on the main news website in Luxembourg RTL Today https://today.rtl.lu/sport/local/a/1572702.html

BG          Are young players coming through?
AK          Definitely.  The Luxembourg Wolves (Under 19) play in our domestic league and this year were runners up in Division 2.  So we hope to see some of these players progressing onto the senior team.  Also, recently we held a T10 competition in the Pierre Werner ground which has attracted the younger generation.

BG          What next?
AK          Czech Republic is hosting the T20 Central European Cup (full ICC status) in Prague on 24-27 September 2020.  6 teams are competing (ICC T20 rankings in brackets): Czech (61), Austria (38), Malta (78), Hungary (53), Belgium (47) and Luxembourg (63).  So we are really looking forward.  Details are on the excellent website www.emergingcricket.com.

BG          And Atif Kamal?  Coaching, playing?
AK          I enjoy coaching and hopefully will complete coaching courses in the future.  But I think I still have a couple of years playing in me!  Malahide CC and before that Cork County CC will testify that seam bowler Kamal is an asset to any team!