Euro News - Gibraltar names coach; Potential Euro expansion

Gibraltar has appointed present Warwickshire Director of Coaching, Richard Cox, as national coach.

The term is expected to commence with July's European Championships in Glasgow, Scotland and continue until the ICC Trophy in Toronto, Canada, 2001.

It will be Cox's third ICC Trophy with Gibraltar, having previously been involved with its 1994 and 1997 campaigns in Kenya and Malaysia respectively.

Meanwhile, it may be below celsius in Helsinki at the moment, but there's been plenty of progress on the Finnish cricket scene. Local official, Andy Armitage reports:

"The Finland Cricket Association has been invited to formulate the first ever Finnish National XI and participate in the ECC Representative Festival for ICC Affiliate Member countries to be held in Austria in August 2000 - an invitation which we warmly accepted.

The second official Finnish season will start in May and will include as a minimum the four teams from last year with a home and away fixture and a final for the top two; but we are also looking into including new teams from the cities of Lahti and Oulu and also possibly a representative squad from Estonia. The FCA will work with the ECDO to help further the game in the Baltic States in all ways possible.

The FCA's ICC Affiliate membership application was accepted before the deadline in December so we will keep our fingers crossed for the result from the June AGM.

In November, with Nigel Laughton's help as part of the ICC Development Program-Europe, we had a long weekend visit from Stuart Barnes, coach from Gloucestershire CCC. The course was a great success both as a cricketing introductory weekend for the Finnish primary school teachers that attended and for the 25-strong group of players of various standards that all achieved the ICC Development Program's Introductory Course certificate to coach in clubs and schools. Additional courses (mainly KWIK cricket) will be held by some of the players, Finns included, at schools in the Greater Helsinki area throughout the Winter/Spring.

The FCA has received the backing of the ECC to fund the installation of an artificial pitch at Malminkartano in Helsinki. We are expecting a decision on the ground from the Helsinki authorities in February, but are facing competition from a golf driving range project for the same ground. Again all the spade work has been done - oh, to be able to play on grass again after all these years!!"

Meanwhile, exciting news out of central Europe, where an enthusiast in Slovakia has sought advice on getting cricket going there.

Also, cricket in the Czech Republic may have its second city following an expression of interest from Brno.

John Cornes provides the rest of the Czech off-season news:

"Another thing that might be exciting - negotiations regarding a sponsorship deal are underway with a major company who has a presence in CZ! If it happens, it will be a great help obviously as finances aren't so easy to come by.

We have also been invited at fairly short notice to Passau, Germany for a day long six-a-side tournament this weekend. Our star female Czech batsman Martina Drnkova is in the squad, and will be able to add her experience of league cricket from the time she played in Essex.

This should be a nice warmup for the Winter Cup we will be going to in Vienna in a month's time.

Otherwise a small hardcore has been training indoors every sunday in preparation for things to come in the season. We should be moving facilities to a bigger and better gym at an International school soon.

The concrete pitch is something that we are confident will happen this year - so far we haven't got past the endless red tape, planning permission etc."

Any club wanting to play in the Czech Republic, should email John Cornes on prahacc@volny.cz

Not so optimistic is the man responsible for keeping cricket in Cyprus alive, Steve Carr.

Carr reports that the league competition did not take place there last year.

There are some positive signs, however, as Cypriot cricket seeks to diversify from its military roots.

"Four coaches are coming out from Yorkshire this month and they will be demonstrating Kwik cricket to 150 boys and girls at three schools," Carr enthused.

In the past Cypriot cricket has comprised of four senior teams, a Civilian outfit, and sides from the Episkopi (Army), Akrotini (RAF) and Dhekelia (Army) garrisons.

Carr said it would be "at least five years" before Cyprus fielded a team in any tournament.