| Dates | 29 August – 1 September 2019 |
|---|---|
| Cricket format | Twenty20 International |
| Tournament format(s) | Round-robin, final |
| Host(s) |  Romania |
| Champions |  Austria |
| Runners-up |  Czech Republic |
| Participants | 5 |
| Matches | 11 |
| Most runs | Sudesh Wickramasekara (219) |
| Most wickets | Bilal Zalmai (9) |
The 2019 Continental Cup was a Twenty20 International (T20I) cricket tournament held in Romania between 29 August and 1 September 2019.[1][2] The hosts were the defending champions, having won the previous edition in 2018.[3]
The format was originally to be two groups of three teams played over the first two days, followed by a series of play-off matches.[4] However, after Russia withdrew two days before the tournament, the format was changed to a single round-robin stage followed by a final.[5] The participating teams were hosts Romania, along with Austria, Czech Republic, Luxembourg and Turkey.[1] All five teams played their first matches with T20I status during this tournament, following the decision of the ICC to grant full Twenty20 International status to all its members from 1 January 2019.[6] Austria topped the round-robin stage and went on to defeat the Czech Republic in the final.
A number of T20I records were set during the tournament, particularly in games against Turkey who had been affected by visa problems resulting in many of their best players not being able to travel to Romania.[7] These included Czech Republic's winning margin of 257 runs, in a game that also saw Sudesh Wickramasekara equal the fastest century in T20I cricket.[7]
- ^ a b "Continental Cricket Cup 2019". Cricket Romania via Facebook. 14 August 2019. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
- ^ "Continental Cup 2019 - Fixtures and Results". Cricinfo. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
- ^ @CricketRomania (12 July 2018). "Congratulations to the Romanian team as winners of the Continental Cricket Cup 2018" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ "Continental Cricket Cup 2019". Cricket Romania via Facebook. 23 August 2019. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
- ^ "Continental Cricket Cup 2019". Cricket Romania via Facebook. 27 August 2019. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
- ^ "All T20 matches between ICC members to get international status". International Cricket Council. 26 April 2018. Retrieved 2 August 2019.
- ^ a b "The day Czech Republic held four world records in cricket". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 25 December 2019.