Following the retirement from the Bears squad of our distinguished long-term skipper Nathan Collins, the new leadership pairing of skipper Amjad Sher and vice captain Mahesh Tambe are bursting with energy ahead of the August 2024 challenge in Guernsey at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup sub-regional qualifiers! The Finnish Bears are looking to make their mark at the event, which will see 10 European countries playing off for one spot at the 2025 T20 European regional finals and the new on-field leadership pairing can hardly wait!
In addition to the major event in Guernsey, the 2024 season will also include a T20 Nordic Cup event at Kerava in June between Finland, Norway and Denmark. Then the annual Ten10 European Cricket Championship (ECC) at the Cartama Oval, Malaga Spain will see the Bears compete hard in Group C from 9th to 11th October where they will come up against Spain, Switzerland, Belgium and Malta. ECC Championship Week will take place in the same location October 15th to 19th.
The summer season will be followed by regular winter training at the magnificent Eerikkilä Sports Academy, all in preparation for driving the standard of the Finnish Bears onwards and upwards in 2025.
The Bears support team was extended during early 2024 with the excellent additions of Troy Faithfull as assistant coach, Geet Raju as data analyst and Albert Minthant as sports psychologist. These dedicated professionals joined the existing support team of bowling coach Gerard Brady, Strength & Conditioning coach Simon Dannapfel along with High Performance Director/Team Manager Andrew Armitage.
Following the resignation of head coach Matthew Jenkinson early in the summer of 2024, the above Bears support team has been actively managing preparation for the ICC Men’s T20 sub-regional qualifiers. Most recently Cricket Finland made an excellent appointment of Takudzwa ‘Taku’ Kusano as Interim Head Coach of the Finnish Bears. Currently Taku will oversee the last few weeks of preparation in Finland and will then oversee Bears performances in Guernsey for the Qualifiers. Taku has a wealth of experience in professional coaching around 15 years, having worked in South Africa, India and in the Netherlands, where he is now based. Taku is currently Head Cricket Coach at Amsterdam Cricket Academy and is a great addition to the Team.
All Finnish Bears squad selections have been made by High Performance Director Andrew Armitage, Bears skipper Amjad Sher and Bowling Coach Gerard Brady. The World Cup Guernsey squad selections have been finalised with critical input from new Interim Head Coach Taku Kusano.
Ideally, players will be able to achieve the benchmark of attending around 80% of the Bears squad training sessions and matches, plus all the Official Training Weekend camps at Eerikkilä.
And, if you think you have all it takes, then do get in touch – all contact details on our CF contacts page