Danish Cricket Yearbook 2019

n Af Jeremy Bray The first tournament of the new ICC World Cricket League Championships over a three-year cycle was staged in Ku- ala Lumpur, Malaysia, September 2019. The setting holds good memories for the Danish side as it was in Malaysia, Denmark got promotion to World Cricket League Division 3 in 2018. However, no fewer than 5 players from that side who gained promotion were not available for various reasons. The squad was again led by Hamid Shah, who was to join the squad after the 2 warm up games due to work com- mitments. Freddie Klokker took over the captaincy reigns for the 2 warm up matches held against an average Ma- laysian XI on a very difficult pitch. The Danes won the match comfortably bowling the Malaysian side out for 130 whereby the spinners were virtually unplayable and wickets were shared around. The Danes chased down the target with relative ease, Zishan Shah scored 60 and other good contributions from Freddie Klokker who got 24 be- fore being caught by a fantastic catch. Young Lucky Malik hit a very enterprising 18. The second warm up game was played against Canada, again on a very sporting pitch. Due to heavy thunder- storms, the match was reduced to a 25 over affair. Canada batted first and some lusty hitting at the end got them up to a score of 150 plus. The Danes were never in the hunt against a very skilful spin bowling attack and were bow- led out for under a 100. Very few contributions by any of the batsmen. A disappointing batting display. However, good learning to be taken out of the game against an op- position we will play late in the tournament. The tournament itself started slowly for the Danes. A clear lack of competitive matches building up to the first game was evident. Malaysia got a below par 192 for 7 with Jino Jojo taking 3 for 38 the pick of the bowlers and disap- pointingly Denmark could only muster a total of 148. The Danes were well in the hunt after a very good 1st wicket stand between Hamid Shah 42 and Zameer Khan 41, but fell apart as the middle order batting, which was to be a problem for the Danes throughout the whole tourna- ment. Denmark could not manage any substantial scores until a late cameo from Oliver Hald 27 off 21 balls. Jino Jojo with 30 runs provided a glimmer of hope until Oliver Hald got stumped going for one hit too many. World Cup League – Malaysia Man of match mod Qatar – Hamid Shah Danmarks landshold har slået lejr Landsholdets teammøde i hotellets kælder En god drinksponsor er vigtigt i de varme omgivelser I 16 I DANSK CRICKET ÅRSSKRIFT 20 19