"Is it true," I ask Dan Weston, founder of the European Cricket Network, "that for your showpiece event in Malaga this year, you had five million people watching?"
"Oh," replies Weston, "much bigger than that. Maybe 75 million."
The European Cricket Network is everywhere. Across 2023 it held events on 330 days of the year with 1700 amateur matches in 16 countries. ECN games are broadcast in every continent in the world on platforms such as Fox Sports, FanCode and Willow TV. Staggeringly, they claim that more than half of the cricket shown on TV across the globe is from ECN.
"Football never ends," explains Weston. "And I want to live in a world where cricket never ends too."
The goal is simple, if astronomically ambitious. To make cricket in continental Europe professional.
"I want to be one of the pioneers, along with a bunch of us, that say, well let's invest and do this now," Weston says. "In the hope that French, Italian, Spanish and German cricketers are professional in the next ten to 20 years. So it's a long-term, very long-term project."
In May of this year, for the first time, the ECN landed in England. And I played.
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The ECN was founded in 2019 but its roots go back another couple of years, when Weston, originally from Australia, who moved to Germany as a 23-year-old, walked off the pitch after playing for the German national team.
"We won against Sweden one night and there was a [player's] brother there, and he did a Facebook Live, filming us walk off the field," Weston told ABC News in 2022. "I thought, 'Oh, that's really interesting.' He got a few thousand views of that, and I thought, 'Who is watching the German cricket team walk off the field?'''
The next time Germany played, Weston recorded it and German Cricket TV, a Facebook page posting clips from club cricket and from the national team, was born. Hundreds of thousands of views arrived in the first week as expats across the country realised that the game of their original homelands was also available in their new home. In the space of the next 18 months, according to Weston, Germany's 60 cricket clubs went from having roughly 90 teams between them to 370.
The next leap came when, thanks to the success of German Cricket TV, Weston was asked to help broadcast an ice cricket event held in St Moritz. There he met Roger Feiner, the former head of broadcasting for FIFA, who was looking for a new adventure.
"I met a very inspiring and convincing person in Daniel," Feiner, now CEO of the European Cricket Network, says. The potential for cricket in Europe was, in Feiner's opinion, clear, and so he roped in two friends, Thomas Klooz and Frank Leenders, both of whom had helped found the UEFA Champions League, and the four haven't looked back since.
While a private enterprise, the ECN fully operates under the ICC and each of their events is sanctioned by the body. "It was just so glaringly obvious to me that to make this work and to make the whole thing actually function well, you have to do everything under the ICC, and you have everything under the host federation," Weston says.
To date, the ECN has paid over €2m in hosting fees to European cricket federations. The ECB will have received a fee for the tournament in England.
When nations receive non-ICC funding, they go higher in the official ICC good books and then become eligible for even more ICC funding. "All boats should rise," Weston says.
It is both new age and old at once. New in the use of streaming and its broadcasting of amateur cricket. But old in that it predominantly relies on club cricket as the vehicle of growth, and it operates alongside the existing federations.
"I'm a big believer in the club system," says Weston. "Across Europe, it's clubs that get access to venues. We want to grow the game in Europe as fast as we can. And that doesn't happen overnight or by flying mercenaries to play franchise cricket in Spain."
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The ECN wasn't meant to come to England. The calendar is planned a year in advance, so Wimbledon CC's request to host an event after they had participated in the showpiece tournament in Malaga earlier this year (for which they qualified by winning England's National T20 club competition) was politely turned down. But when Corfu pulled out as a venue and participant because teams couldn't be raised during the high season of tourism, Wimbledon stepped in.
Weston is courteous if not enthusiastic about what the tournament landing in England means. "It's great," he says. But the ECN is about growing cricket across the continent, so the one nation where it is already widely played is a nice-to-have rather than a must-have. "It's validation that we're not cowboys," he says, "but by the same token, we're [already] working with 35 different countries around Europe."
Corfu's loss was Raynes Park Sports Ground's gain. And on a chilly and grey May morning, at 9.45 on the dot, Spencer, my team from south-west London, and Tunbridge Wells CCs walked out to play the first ever European Cricket League match in England.
Played in T10 format, matches take roughly an hour and a half each to complete, with five games played in a day. Five clubs - Wimbledon, Hornchurch and Twickenham in addition to the two above - played on the first four days, with the top three qualifying for finals on the Friday, when the NCCA (National Counties Cricket Association, formerly the Minor Counties) side would arrive and compete in the finals.
I was available only for the first day, before a flight to Dallas for the T20 World Cup took precedence. Spencer would go on to finish as runners-up. Given we lost both matches I played in on day one, and the third was rained off, Spencer's upturn in fortunes following my departure is purely coincidental and will not be investigated in this article.
First and foremost, playing in the ECN is fun. Weston talks of the power of broadcasting and social media. He says that part of the allure is a kid looking at the TV and seeing their dad having a game, and for that he's a hero. It doesn't matter if it's Kylian Mbappe or a father in their 40s, you want to be what you can see, and ECN's commitment to broadcasting is part of their dream to inspire a new generation of cricketers on the continent.
The novelty of the event makes for dopamine rushes around every corner. You arrive at the ground and there are beer tents and chairs out for spectators. Realistically, there were never more than a few dozen at any one time. Hornchurch CC brought a strong following but for the most part the weather didn't play ball.
Camera gantries are set up on either side of the ground, and a commentators' tent. In all, there are five cameras. A manned one at each end to track play, two that are fixed square of the wicket for replays and alternative angles, and a fifth that captures miscellaneous footage. It is a professional operation.
Upon arrival in the Player and Match Officials Areas, you hand in your phone and any electronic device that can be used for communication. This event is being broadcast around the world and will be bet on, a lot. For all the fun and growth of the game that European Cricket is responsible for, the scale of betting and the potential for corruption that accompanies every event is a heavy asterisk. We've been warned, officially and otherwise, that people may contact us. And they do.
But for now, it's about preparing for game No. 1. As it is being broadcast and bet on, everyone must have a unique squad number. And my 23 (chosen because of my childhood front door, as opposed to any affiliation with Michael Jordan) won't do because a friend also has 23. And since he arrived at the ground before I did, it's deemed he gets to keep his and I have to change. Fortunately, with the aid of some gaffer tape, determination and imagination, my 23 is turned into a 28 and we're away.
The organisation and efficiency of the event is remarkable. Captains film the toss 75 minutes before the start of play; you're counted down, so you know when to take the field; at the loss of a wicket, the next batter has 90 seconds to be ready to face, and the organisers will let them know in no uncertain terms if they're being too slow. Headshots, both individual and team snaps, are taken for your online profile. Umpires, hired from the local leagues, have talkback with the production tent; they keep the match on schedule and inform the scorers of bowling changes and confirm catch-takers. There is no DRS but there are TV reviews for run-outs, stumpings and boundary checks. The umpires, just like us, are enjoying the novelty of it all. At one point we have a run-out appeal sent upstairs. The umpire says that he thinks it was not out, and when proven correct, allows himself a fist pump.
Batting first, we make 126 in our ten overs and have no idea if it's a good score. It is not. Tunbridge Wells chase it in 8.4 overs without losing a wicket. My sole over goes for 15; my round-the-wicket offspin is cut and reverse-swept for two fours and a six.
There has been no healthier checking of the male club cricketing ego than the increase in matches being streamed. Watching myself bowl in HD for the first time confirmed something I had long suspected but had never had proof of until now. That I am terrible.
The standard on show is, in fact, varied. The ECN is best known for viral clips of terrible cricket that traffic in moments of comedy, but often the standard of play is more than competent and sometimes very strong. Our XI on Monday is made up of a core of first XI players, along with a batch of guys from the seconds and thirds. Our overseas professional is playing, so too is Wimbledon's, who ropes in his brother, meaning, when we play each other there are three current first-class cricketers on the pitch. One of Tunbridge Wells' openers was playing second XI county cricket last year, and the NCCA team is made up exclusively of current minor county players. So there are plenty of moments when genuinely good cricket is being played, but there are also plenty of moments when it's not.
"I reckon someone's going to hit six sixes this week," said one of our players before a ball of the competition had been bowled. And it turned out to be him.
Admittedly the boundaries in the ECN are tiny, measuring 50 metres from the centre of the pitch all the way around. This results in some comically mistimed sixes, but it's a great leveller that allows weaker players to keep up the scoring rate, which, as a result, keeps matches closer.
Even over the course of the day, let alone of the week, the idea that it is merely a hit and giggle, where anyone could win, is wide of the mark. Sure, there's increased variance and a one-off lottery aspect once a team is in the finals, but the best team is never going to finish bottom of the group stage and the worst team is never going to win it.
As a format, it wouldn't satisfy you if you played just one game. But across a day, or in a multi-day festival format such as this, it's great. Every over you bowl is important and has a tangible impact on the match - a feeling that is rare across a season of Saturdays but a common occurrence in T10. In our final match of day one, with Twickenham needing 24 off 18 balls to win, but eight wickets down, my over starts with a single and a dot. Twenty-three needed off 16.
"Ponsonby, hasn't he bowled well at the right times?" says commentator No. 1.
"Yep, Cameron's bowled well," agrees commentator No. 2. "He's been making the most of that angle across."
Six.
Seventeen required off 15. And we'd go on to lose. Of the many unique aspects to participating in the European Cricket Series, the ability to relive trauma should be packaged as one of the key selling points of the fact that it is televised. I finish the day with figures of 3-0-36-1.
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Also unique, for an amateur player, is the presence of gambling. Upon walking off after the first match of the day and being reunited with my phone, I opened it to a new Instagram follower and a DM request: "Hello sir, I want to discuss something with you. Can you message back."
Team-mates received other, less discreet, messages. "Hello buddy, are you interested in vip fixed. It's 100% fixed match. No chance to lose," said one.
"Hello brother, I need some clue about Spencer cricket club, can you help me?" said another.
"The three main challenges for European cricket," explains the head of anti-corruption at ECN, who did not want to be named, "are not too dissimilar to cricket across the world. Regulated betting markets, unregulated betting markets, and fantasy cricket."
Regulated and unregulated markets present similar issues. For one, the presence of "spotters" at grounds. Bookmakers, of the legal or illegal variety, will send someone to an event to report back in real time what is happening so they can set their prices accordingly. On the first day at Raynes Park, three spotters were kicked out. Often easily identifiable, a spotter will usually be talking continuously into a phone or into their jacket, where a communication device is being kept out of sight. Spotters are present all over sport. Only last year, at the women's ODI between England and Australia in Bristol, two spotters were kicked out.
Fantasy cricket presents a different problem. For instance, you pick a fantasy team for the competition in the UK, choosing me as a star allrounder who is expected to open the batting and bowling. In theory you're getting loads of points as I'm playing loads of cricket. But if I actually bat at six and don't bowl, you're not getting any value for your purchase, while the person I tipped off that I'm not playing is quids in, as they didn't pick me.
Dealing with corruption is not new for the ECN. In 2020 a team was suspended for suspicious behaviour, and last September three players were charged with corruption offences. The ECN applies the exact same anti-corruption code as the ICC.
"This is a strange moment where the lower level of cricket is being done in a huge promotional way that does attract some bad actors," Weston explains. "But if you look at what we're doing internally and externally, I think we're probably managing our product better than anyone else on earth, apart from the ICC, when it comes to protecting the game."
On the one hand, it is inevitable. There are 1700 matches being played a year and corruption is present in all forms of cricket. But on the other, the league's nature creates a fertile environment for people to make approaches and for players to be tempted to accept them.
Under normal circumstances, you have professional players playing in a professional environment, or amateur players playing in an amateur environment. But European cricket is amateur players operating in a professional environment. There are many eyeballs on the matches and therefore there is money. Add in that on the continent, many of the players are immigrants or refugees of South-Asian descent who moved due to difficult socio-economic circumstances, and you have an uncomfortable combination of lots of money being on the line and a vulnerable player base where an easy buck for bowling a wide, or giving a bit of information, seems a victimless crime and an attractive option.
"The education of players is getting better," says the head of anti-corruption. "But we still see incidents of corruption. I take no pleasure in suspending or banning a player who's been exploited. Because they've got a problem, so let's help fix it. But I have no sympathy for the ones who are greedy."
"In the early days it was really gut-wrenching," Weston says. "Because I never thought that going into this was going to create betting markets and bookmakers. So for a long time I tried to fight it and stop it - and we still do but with higher-qualified methods.
"It was like, come on, we're trying to grow the game in this country and there's all this betting going on. So what we do is, like any other sports federation, we sell our data to an official partner. Because if you don't make it official, then it's unofficial and going to happen anyway. We also put in place participant education and cutting-edge integrity systems both at the venue and digitally away from the venue." Anti-corruption videos that the ICC uses are sent to participants beforehand. Ahead of the more high-profile events, meetings with players are held and a presentation given.
When I tell the ECN's anti-corruption head about my Instagram message, something I did the next day when interviewing him, he gently reminds me that technically, by not reporting it at the time, I'm in breach of the ICC's anti-corruption code.
He welcomes the scrutiny. He previously worked in law enforcement and also for the ICC in anti-corruption.
"I think the work that we do as our integrity unit is really good," he says. "We go on the offensive, you know, going after players and after the fixes as well. But also the defensive side, as the prevention is better than the cure. I'd rather educate the players."
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Ultimately, and perhaps somewhat naïvely, I think that the European Cricket Network is fundamentally a force for good.
Undoubtedly elements of the competition's relationship with betting make my skin itch. Namely, the shape of their commercial partnerships with gambling and fantasy sports companies. Fantasy cricket is a source of corruption issues and an avenue for vulnerable players to be exploited. Yet as recently as last year, Dream11, India's largest fantasy sports platform, was the title partner of the European Cricket Championship.
However, my sympathy is at its strongest for ECN in that there is every chance they are the first responders to a problem that could soon impact recreational cricket as a whole. Club cricket across the world is increasingly being streamed by single-camera set-ups. Matches with single-camera streams, the ECN's anti-corruption head says, used by 99.9% of club games that are recorded, are the most susceptible to manipulation: "If it's live-streamed, people will be betting on it," he says simply. So rather than scoff at the ECN as a dodgy league, their having to deal with amateur cricketers, who for the first time in history are being targeted by rogue agents, could turn out to be as much a case for education as for condemnation.
Overall the ECN is harnessing the growth of the game in a way that no one else has and that is a good thing. It is easy to roll your eyes at the idea of making cricket professional in France in 20 years, but where's the harm in trying? The world changes when people move. And in the present day people are moving by the millions. Great Britain took cricket around the Commonwealth. And now people from former Commonwealth nations are taking it elsewhere. The success of cricket in Europe rests on the oldest method of information transfer and the newest: migration and social media.
"I might be in Bulgaria," Weston concludes, "And I'm in a taxi or go to an Indian restaurant, and you mention cricket and you see their faces light up because they've never spoken to anyone about cricket in the ten years they have lived in Bulgaria.
"And then you say, well there's cricket in Bulgaria, and you can show them, and then because of the magic of social media, they end up joining a club or finding a team.
"This is really a passion project that has gotten out of hand. Once I realised I would be living in Germany long term, I didn't want to live in a region where there's no cricket. Thanks to meeting great, passionate and committed people, we have been able to start promoting the game at scale in the past five years. And in the long term, the current group of European cricketers has a chance to grow the game for this and the next generation, and if we live in a world where cricket exists and it's professional, then that's a great legacy for us.
"Like, yeah, those guys [who are betting on matches] do add to the pressures of growing cricket for good, but we care hugely about integrity and anti-corruption. But the majority of players who play on the ECN have had the best day of their cricket life. The good outweighs the bad. The positive stuff is actually so much stronger than the negative aspects of what we're doing."
And on that I agree. European Cricket was great fun. I loved playing in it and I hope it succeeds. And if Corfu can't host an event again next year, I look forward to heading down to Raynes Park next May to do it all over again.