The Swedish Cricket Championship, Allsvenskan, was founded in 1991. At that time, cricket was fairly popular in Sweden. There is no denying that the teams were very skillful and that the games were exciting to watch. The positive trend continued for a couple of years. During the last part of the century, however, Swedish cricket suffered a decline. Nowadays, we have seen an increase of the number of teams and players in Sweden. One factor behind the resurrection for Swedish cricket is the fact that the Swedish national team has been highly successful in international tournaments during the last couple of years.
Allsvenskan in cricket is based on the traditional cricket rules and regulations. A couple of years back, the Swedish cricket association created a league where the modern T20 regulations apply. T20 regulations matches take only a few hours to complete since there is only one innings per team. The T20 league has proved to be a success, mainly because the teams competing in the league can save money on travel. Also the number of spectators has increased somewhat.
Swedish champions since 2006
Spånga United Cricket Club won the title the season 2006. The year after, Pakistan Cricket Club managed to defeat all the other teams to stand as winners. With this win, Pakistan CC climbed to the top of the trophy league in Swedish cricket through the years. Nacka Cricket Club won the title in 2008. The following year Landskrona Cricket Club managed to take home the trophy. Malmö Cricket Club were victorious in 2010, and last year the Swedish Cricket Championship went to Uppsala CF.
The season 2011 (traditional cricket)
Thirteen teams competed in Allsvenskan 2011. When the first leg of the season was complete, Nacka CC, Sigtuna CC, Uppsala CF and Landskrona CC were the four highest placed teams in the table. In the semi finals, Nacka was drawn against Landskrona. Sigtuna played against Uppsala. Nacka and Uppsala were victorious in the semis and thus competed against each other in the final. On the day of the final, Uppsala was the better team. They won by six wickets and stood as Swedish Cricket Champions for the first time in the team’s history.
The season 2011 (T20 cricket)
Eleven team participated in the T20 Swedish Championships the season 2011. The teams were divided into two groups. Stockholm Academics Cricket Society (SACS), Botkyrka CC, Stockholm International CC (SICC), Nacka, Sigtuna and Jinnah CC participated in Group A. Malmöhus CC, Landskrona, Göteborg CC, Malmö CC and Lund CC were the teams that made up Group B. The grouping was based on where the teams were situated in Sweden, in order to minimise expensive travelling. When the first leg of the series was completed, SACS, Botkyrka, Malmöhus and Landskrona qualified for the semi finals. The final was played between SACS and Malmöhus. SACS managed to win by only two runs – the smallest winning margin in the history of the Swedish Cricket Championship.
The season 2012
The Swedish Cricket Championship begins in May and the final is held at the end of July. This year there are 13 teams competing for the silverware: SACS, Sigtuna, Lund, Stockholm Tigers CC, Malmöhus, Botkyrka, Landskrona, SICC, Jinnah, Göteborg, Malmö, Uppsala International and Nacka. All teams play ten matches. The top four teams proceed to the semi finals.