One of the downsides of the tournament cull by ICC Europe is that you lose touch with friends and familiar faces that you got to know while reporting and photographing on competitions.

I got to know the Malta team who were a joy to photograph as although they played to win, always did with a smile on their face and were never afraid to laugh.

While doing some research on their latest exploits I discovered that Ronnie Sacco had died in 2020 at the age of just 45.

©CricketEurope

He played for Malta in ten international tournaments (three local tournaments and seven overseas tournaments) playing 50 times, which places him fourth in their all-time list.

Ronnie was a fine bowler, taking 47 wickets for his country – only Andrew Naudi and Michael Caruana have more. His batting wasn’t his strongest suit, as he scored just 236 runs in those 50 appearances.

This photo though shows him hitting four of them as the ball smacked off the middle of the bat.

In his memory Malta played Bulgaria in a series of matches competing for the ‘Ronnie Sacco Memorial Trophy’ at the conclusion of their T20I’s in Bulgaria.

It was a successful tour for Malta who not only won both the T20I’s played, but also won the trophy as they won all three matches to complete a clean sweep.

A fitting tribute for a real Malta legend.