Guttsta Wicked Cricket Club originates from the small town of Kolsva in the municipality of Köping in Sweden. Guttsta WCC is probably the one cricket club in Sweden that’s been the primary leading light behind the development of Swedish cricket during the last couple of decades. Just like many other cricket clubs in Sweden, Guttsta WCC was formed by a group of friends who wanted to be able play cricket on a higher level. The club was established in 1989. The first match was played in August of 1989. Mariestad Cricket Club was the opponent. During the inauguration year Guttsta actually found time to play also a second match, this time against Spånga United CC.

During 1989 Guttsta WCC was the driving factor behind the creation of the Swedish Cricket Federation. It is fair to say that the leading people in Guttsta WCC were also the leading people in the first board of the federation.

During the early 1990s, Guttsta’s Staffan Lageson was the leading figure behind the development of the Swedish Cricket Championship. The first season was played in 1991. Guttsta WCC competed in the first season of the championship, but did not manage to go all the way. In 1992, Guttsta went on a training camp in England. With a bit more experience having played against semi-professional teams, Guttsta WCC managed to win their first championship. They beat Landskrona/Helsingborg CC in the final. The same year, Kel Markham, the team captain, also captained the Swedish national team that won an international tournament in Berlin.

The season 2001, Guttsta WCC participated in the Swedish Cricket Championship for the last time. The season was not a big success. In fact, Guttsta finished last. After the season, the management of Guttsta WCC decided to quit competitive cricket and instead shift focus to expanding the sport in Sweden through other means.

Today, there are 28 cricket clubs in Sweden. Thirteen av these clubs have teams that compete in the Swedish Cricket Championship (Allsvenskan). That may not seem very impressive, but one should remember that cricket is a sport that is almost completely different from the other popular sports in Sweden. The fact that the media does not care about cricket is another factor that makes it hard for Swedish cricket clubs to reach out to new members.

Cricket was established in Sweden in 1948, when Stockholm Cricket Club was formed by immigrants from the West Indies. Progress was, however, slow between 1948 and the 1970s. At the end of the 1970s quite a few new cricket clubs were formed. Pakistan Cricket Club was formed in 1978. The following year, Gothenburg Cricket Club and Mariestad Cricket Club were established. In 1982 Pakistan CC organised the first cricket tournament in Sweden, Svenska Cricketcupen. During the first couple of years half of the participating teams came from the British Navy and the Pakistan national airline. Nowadays, most of the teams partaking in Svenska Cricketcupen are the same teams that compete for the Swedish Cricket Championship.

The Swedish Cricket Federation (Svenska Cricketförbundet) was established in 1990. The following year the Swedish Cricket Championship (Allsvenskan i cricket) was organised for the first time. The teams were divided into two groups, Allsvenskan Norra and Allsvenskan Södra.

During the 1990s, Sweden began partaking in international tournaments, organised by the International cricket federation. It is fair to say that success did not come immediately. After a couple of really bad results, Sweden did not compete internationally for almost a decade. The season 2007, Sweden finally returned to the international scene. That year Sweden played two matches against the Norwegian national team. Since then Sweden has participated in several tournaments against other European teams.

As for many other popular sports it is not obvious when the first variety of cricket was invented. Both kids and adults have probably been engrossed in a game bearing resemblances to the modern sport of cricket for many centuries. One thing is clear though. Modern cricket began to formalise in England during the 17th century. The first time cricket (then spelled ”krecket”) was mentioned in writing was in 1597, when the sport of cricket apparently had some importance in a trial about a piece of land.

In the late 17th century, cricket was a well-known sport in the whole of England. Most teams had a patron in the form av a nobleman or a rich businessmen. Most players, if not all, were members of the higher classes. Since a cricket match, at that time as well as today, takes days to complete, the possibility for workers and merchants to partake in a cricket match was slim to say the least.

The year 1744 marks a milestone in the history of cricket. This year the first official rules of the game were put into writing. This was an important event in two ways. First, the official rules enabled umpires to be consistent in their overseeing of matches. Earlier, disputes regarding for example scoring had been very frequent. Second, having official rules made it easier for the English to spread the sport outside of the country’s borders. Since 1744, some of the rules have changed a number of times, but many of the most common rules are the same today as in 1744. Since 1787 Marylebone Cricket Club is the main regulatory body for rules and regulations in cricket.

Cricket spread quickly around the world during the 19th century, when the British colonised large parts of the world. The West Indies, Australia and India were just a few of the countries where cricket became an instant hit. Even though cricket is most popular in the former British colonies, cricket is nowadays a global sport.

The International cricket federation organises eight international tournaments for European teams during the season 2012. Sweden will participate in the ICC European Division 2 Championship. This tournament will be held in Greece, 3–8 September. Sweden will face Croatia, Cyprus, Finland, Greece, Isle of Man, Israel, Luxembourg, Malta, Portugal, Spain, as well as the team that wins the Division 3 tournament in June. Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Slovenia, Switzerland and Turkey are fighting for the last spot.

Currently Sweden is placed as team number 26 in the ranking for European teams. This low ranking means that Sweden is by far the lowest ranked team competing in the Division 2 clash. Israel and Croatia are the teams sporting the highest rankings, being 12th and 13th respectively. It’s not hard to see that Sweden will face some really tough competition.

The last time Sweden participated in the European Division 2 Championship, the results were not exactly elevating. Sweden only managed to win one match, against Malta. Spain, Belgium, Austria and Cyprus had too much quality. It is prudent, however, to note that Sweden had not competed on such a high level before.

If Sweden were to win the European Division 2 tournament, what happens next? One might think that Sweden would be promoted to Division 1. Cricket is, however, a sport which uses a different way of classifying teams, in comparison to football, for example. The International cricket federation uses divisions in order to put fairly equal teams together, in order to create interesting tournaments. A team winning a division will not automatically qualify for participation in a higher division. The International cricket federation instead uses the results in the qualification for the upcoming Cricket World Championship when deciding on which teams that should form the different divisions.

During the season 2009, Swedish cricket took a number of big steps on the international scene. Sweden participated in two international tournaments and managed to perform very well in both.

The second week of July 2009, the tournament Royal Nordic Cup was held. On Svanholm Cricket Ground (Denmark), Norway, Finland, Denmark and Sweden competed against each other in an exciting battle between the Nordic countries. Before the tournament began, Sweden was outranked by the other nations, when looking at international ranking lists. Sweden did, however, manage to nip third place in the tournament.

Against Norway and Denmark, Sweden did not stand a chance, but the Swedish team actually succeeded in beating Finland, not just once, but twice. The key player was, without doubt, Azam Khalil. Norway won the tournament.

Later during the year, Sweden had the opportunity to compete in the international tournament Division 5 Europe. During five days in September 2009, the Swedish team played very well and actually managed to win the entire tournament. In the first match of the tournament, Sweden faced the host country Greece. Unfortunately, the Greeks were to strong for the Swedes. Then, however, Sweden won the remaining four matches. Bulgaria and Turkey provided tough opposition. Against Czech Republic and Estonia, the Swedish team was in charge from the first play. Sweden thrashed the Czechs with a winning margin of 223 runs. Estonia were also easily disbanded. The winning margin was 74 runs.

The captain for the Swedish team in the Division 5 tournament in Greece was Adnan Raza. Piyal Rahman was vice-captain. Rajan Sharma acted as coach and Masood Zaigham was the manager of the team. Through the win in Greece, Sweden qualified for participation in Division 4 Europe.

Malmö Cricket Club is one of the most successful cricket clubs in Sweden. Malmö CC is also one of the oldest clubs in Sweden still competing on the highest level. Just like many other cricket clubs in Sweden, there have been years where Malmö CC hasn’t competed in the Swedish Cricket Championship. Since the national championships began in 1991, Malmö has, however, been one of the clubs to feature at the highest level the most times.

Malmö Cricket Club was founded in 1980. The members, all interested in playing cricket for fun, wanted to formalise their interest. The club thus followed in the footsteps of Pakistan CC, Göteborg CC and Mariestad CC – three clubs that all formed in the late 1970s.

During the 1980s, Malmö CC did not reach any success at all on the highest level. During the 1990s the club became more professional, but no trophy was added to the trophy room. It is during the last couple of years that Malmö CC has become a big team. The season 2002, the team won the Swedish Cricket Championship for youth teams. The following season Malmö CC won the prestigious tournament Breddepokalen in Denmark. During the seasons 2003–2007, Malmö CC competed in the Danish cricket league (Division 2).

The biggest success for Malmö CC came in 2010, when the club managed to win the Swedish Cricket Championship. Malmö CC defeated Nacka Cricket Club in the final with a winning margin of 69 runs. The big star in the final was Sanaullah Habibzai.

Malmö Cricket Club is a cricket club that focuses a lot on its youth players. A goal for the club is to spread the word about cricket to as many youngsters as possible. The core of the team consists of players born in countries such as Pakistan and India, but during the last couple of years also a number of Swedish-born players have started playing cricket for Malmö CC.

Malmöhus CC is the younger of the two cricket clubs in Malmö. Malmö Cricket Club was founded in 1980. Malmöhus CC was founded in 1993. Eric Folker, Ramesh Paul and Samath Ohlén were the three main players behind the foundation of the club. They realised that the interest in cricket was so big in Malmö and environs that another club could easily co-exist with Malmö CC.

The first year, focus was on increasing the number of members. Within just a couple of months, Malmöhus CC could put together a fairly competitive team. Already during the season 1994, Malmöhus CC competed in the Swedish Cricket Championship (Allsvenskan) for the first time. The first official competitive match was played on the Limhamn Oval (Limhamnsfältet) – a venue that still is the home for the club. Mariestad CC was the opposition. Malmöhus CC were, somewhat surprisingly, able to defeat the visitors.

The following season (1995) Malmöhus CC managed to reach the semi finals in the Swedish Cricket Championship. The following year they reached the final, where Pakistan Cricket Club was victorious. The season 1997 Malmöhus CC reached the semis, yet again. After this season, which was a bit of a disappointment for the club, Malmöhus CC decided to compete in the Danish cricket league. Between 1998–2001, the club competed in the Danish Division 2. The first season, Malmöhus came second. The following season, Malmöhus finished as winners.

The season 2002 Malmöhus CC decided to yet again compete in the Swedish Cricket Championship. The comeback was not an immediate success. Malmöhus finished as number six in the final table. The chairman then decided to return to the Danish cricket league.

Malmöhus CC welcomes everyone who is interested in learning more about cricket. In order to compete in official matches for the club, one needs to be fairly proficient in the odds and ends of cricket, but all practice sessions are open for everyone.

It was the cricket aficionado Sarfraz Kayani who, together with two of his brothers, founded Sigtuna Cricket Club in 1989. Sigtuna is often noted as one of the most important clubs in Swedish cricket, together with Guttsta WCC and Pakistan CC, since the club has done so much for the development of the sport in Sweden. Today, Sigtuna CC has over 30 members, all of them very much interested in cricket. The number of members would probably have been much higher, had Sigtuna not been situated so close to Stockholm.

During the first couple of years, Sigtuna Cricket Club did very well. Sigtuna won, for example, the Swedish Cricket Championships (Allsvenskan) the season 1994. Following the win, Sigtuna CC disappeared somewhat from the highest competitive level. A lack of interest and an empty bank account made it impossible for Sigtuna to compete on the highest level. Sigtuna was not able to get to the top of Swedish cricket again until the start of the season 2000. During this time, there was an inflow of quality cricket players and the club could put together a team capable of competing for honours.

During the 21st century, Sigtuna CC has won a couple of high-profile competitions. Sigtuna CC won the classic tournament Jinnah-cupen both 2006 and 2009. 2007 and 2010 Sigtuna reached the final in the tournament. Also, Sigtuna CC managed to finish in second place in the Swedish Cricket Championship both 2007 and 2010.

During the last couple of years, Sigtuna CC has also had success outside the playing oval. The chairman of the club, Sarfraz Kayani, has managed to introduce cricket in a number of schools in Sigtuna. Also, kids living in Sigtuna nowadays have the opportunity to practise cricket after school.

The venue for cricket matches, as well as cricket practice, in Sigtuna, is Norrbackafältet. The playing oval is situated in the eastern part of Sigtuna, right next to the Norrbacka school. The oval is regularly used for the finals of the Swedish Cricket Championships.

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