First-ever Ice Cricket World Championship ends in draw

Mar 07, 2007
By TBT Staff

TALLINN - The first-ever Ice Cricket World Championship, held on Tallinn’s Harku Lake on March 4, ended in an overall draw between Surrey’s Polygon and the Upminster 2nd team. Both clubs scored 14 points in the round-robin affair, wherein 3 points were awarded for every win and one for each draw. The overall high scorer of the day was Polygon with 76 for 3 in 6 overs.

“The teams performed superbly well, although the highly organized Polygon team from Surrey were vastly superior to all but one of the teams taking part. Only Upminster 2nd team could cope with the pace and ferocity of the Polygon team,” said organizers.
Newdigate Cricket Club came in third place with 10 points, while Estonia’s team tied for sixth and last place with the Surrey club A Few Good Men, each taking away only 3 points.

On the home team, James Ramsden was the highest scorer with 28 runs, while Kersti Uueni proved the best bowler, with 2 wickets for 10 runs.
Called “real ice cricket,” the novel sport is the invention of Tallinn-based expatriate Jason Barry, who captains the Estonian team. It is a variation of the summer sport of cricket, but played in a six-a-side format on frozen lake ice. Harku Lake, on the outskirts of Tallinn, is the primary pitch, though when the weather turns warmer the action moves indoors to the Jeti Ice Hall.

“I got the idea from seeing the ice fisherman on the lake each year and wondered if it would be possible to use this ‘temporary sports arena’ for taking away the winter boredom. It turned out to be perfect,” said Barry in a press release.
Now an officially recognized part of the cricket touring calendar, it attracts over 40 teams to Tallinn from January to March, and has gained the attention of international media.

The Ice Cricket World Championship was a club tournament in aid of Comic Relief, a UK organization that raises money for global children’s charities.
More information on the sport and the Tallinn club is available at the Estonian Cricket Association’s website, www.cricket.ee.



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