The European Cricket Championship was a group of various tournaments in which national cricket sides throughout Europe competed. The competition was designed to encourage and develop the best players in countries where cricket was not a major sport and Europe's only Test cricket playing country at the time, England did not enter a full-strength side. The games were often played as 50-over one-day cricket matches, most of these without One Day International status, but more recently has been played in a Twenty20 format (see below for more details).