Bringing the international world of cricket to Prague: Vinoř hosts three teams for the Central Europe Cup
Cricket, while not a sport associated with Czechia, has many fans in the country, and is very much integrated into the wider world of the sport. From June 8th to 13th, the Central Europe Cup, a tournament organised by the Czech Cricket Union, has brought the national teams of Austria, Norway and Gibraltar to play the host country in Vinoř, on the outskirts of Prague.
Danny Bate went along to the cricket ground to speak to members of the Czech team and key figures that make the sport happen in Czechia.
It’s a traditional English scene: a perfectly kept grass field, cricketers practising their batting and bowling under a blue sky, tents for the players, officials and refreshments. Except it’s not England – it’s Prague. In the north-eastern district of Vinoř, right on the border where Prague meets Central Bohemia, you can find the playing ground of the Czech Cricket Union (Českomoravský kriketový svaz/ČMKS).
Founded in 2000, the organisation exists to facilitate and promote cricket in Czechia, and one of the highlights of their cricketing calendar is the Central Europe Cup. This tournament, which the Czech Cricket Union has organised since 2014, this year sees the Czech national men’s team playing Austria and Norway, and the national women’s team playing Austria and Gibraltar.
Czech cricket then and now
On June 9th, I went along to the ground in Vinoř, where I was greeted by the union’s marketing officer, Venkatesh Marghashayam, Venky to his friends. As we waited for the third day of the Central Europe Cup 2025 men's tournament to begin, Venky outlined the history of cricket in Czechia:
“Cricket started because there were a bunch of expats from Britain, South Africa, Australia, India, Pakistan, who were very keen to play cricket. It was in about 1997 or 1998 when a band of these expats got together. Someone from the British embassy was an important figure in starting it up, because they gave us the ground in Vypich to play. They helped us out with getting a space and then a playing mat. Everyone from that community helped out with getting things. That was the start of Czech cricket.”
Since its founding in 2000, the ČMKS has established itself as a sophisticated and very professional sports organisation, which is by no means limited to Prague in its activities:
“We have a committee and we have member clubs. These people vote for positions on the committee. So we have an annual grand meeting where some people open up for positions, then they get voted in. But they're all people from within the community. So it's people who care and love about the sport who get put into these positions.
“We are starting to sort of spread across the country. The majority of the clubs are in Prague, in Bohemia. Then we have a few clubs in Moravia, like the Brno Cricket Club, which is the biggest in Brno. Then we have the Moravian Cricket Club. It’s an offshoot, because we needed another club, so they split up ... Then we have an Ostrava Cricket Club, who are very keen to develop their own cricket grounds, so that’s growing in that region. We have České Budějovice as well; they’re called the České Budějovice Barracudas. They’re a team down south. So yeah, that's the bit of teams we have all across the country.
“If someone hasn't been a part of the cricket journey and just comes across it, it does seem like business is booming! But it's taken us quite a lot of time to get this far. It's slow and steady progress, but it's progress nonetheless.”
Venky also explained how the union is striving to introduce Czech children to the sport, and to develop women’s cricket in the country:
“We have our partners called Kriketová Akademie České republiky, who are our official partners in developing the game for the Czechs and for any youngsters. They're a cricket coaching academy, they go out to schools in Prague or wherever, and they have these training programs where they try to get Czech kids to convert to cricket … Through that, as well, you get a lot of parents and others who start to understand, ‘oh, there's a sport called cricket’. That's the way in.”
Umpiring the matches
Those involved with the union and the Central Europe Cup come from across the world, including from the homeland, England. Joe Foster, originally from the English county of Essex, was one of the umpires on duty during the tournament. We discussed how life had led him to umpiring in the Czech countryside:
“It was during COVID, in 2021. There was a tournament that was happening here, and they needed umpires and most of the people were just wanting to play. I'd never really seriously umpired before, but they needed people, and it was going to be a paid thing, and my work wasn't going on during COVID. So, I gave it a go. I know the laws, I know the rules. I've been following it ever since I was a kid, so I gave it a crack.
“For this tournament specifically, it's ICC-sanctioned (the International Cricket Council), so every umpire has to have a minimum amount of training and do online courses. Then you have to adhere to the minimum operating standard for officials to be able to do it.”
I personally hadn’t appreciated how much behind-the-scenes work there is for umpires, as well as players:
“We have actually quite a vast committee and network of umpires. We have fifty officials as part of our membership in Brno and here. We have to allocate four hundred spots throughout the league year. It's a substantial task. It's not just like volunteers, like club cricket, where you just come and you do your own team. We try to have neutral officials for every game in the league, and so on. They're paid as well. So it's a substantial thing to work out the fixtures.”
From Vinoř to the world!
The cricketing action was not confined to those present at the pitch in Prague; the game was being broadcast online by the European Cricket Network. Keeping the viewers informed was Vinny Sandhu, a TV presenter, commentator and former professional cricketer, also known as ‘Mr Maximo’. Having done a piece to camera introducing the Czechia-Norway match, the voice of European cricket match outlined his role in the sport:
“I've done over 5,000 matches over the last five years, which is quite incredible when you think about it. It's something I really enjoy doing. My role basically is the head of television, so I'm coordinating the broadcast, and I'm commentating today. We have a team of commentators, who are really passionate about European cricket as well.
“So for the rest of the day, I'll be commentating, and I'll also be kind of doing things like suggesting camera angles to the TV crew and coordinating the backers. I'll be doing the back end of things – what we're putting up on the screen, which gives information sometimes about the upcoming events that will be happening on ECN, and just how the year is going to go as well. We like to keep our viewers informed.
“Our season is actually a 49-week season now. It's crazy. It started in mid-January, it goes all the way almost through to Christmas. So it's a really exciting time to be involved in European cricket. It's a cricket project, a sport project, unlike anything else in the world.”
While his job requires a lot of travel around Europe, Prague isn’t just another foreign destination for Mr Maximo. It is in fact a local tournament for him:
“I'm married to a Czech. She's a very understanding partner as well, considering the amount of travel that I’ve got to do. When I am here in Prague, I love it, especially because I get to sleep in my own bed … She knows how passionate I am about European cricket and having this responsibility, which I do take seriously, but it is beautiful to be here in Prague.
“We're really lucky here in Prague to have such a beautiful facility with two fields. We've got sunshine today, which is brilliant as well. They do a great job here putting on the cricket.”
To hear the full interviews, listen to the track above!
