Archive 2015
Zurich Crickets CC Under 11s continue the series of friendlies with Basel Dragons (5th December)
These matches are becoming a regular once-a-month fixture, home or away, with Basel Dragons and there is no doubt that the teams are improving, working hard and full of enthusiasm. The rivalry
will obviously be continued in the New Year!
Women's cricket coming to Zurich Crickets (11th November)
As part of Cricket Switzerland's programme to encourage women's cricket development in Switzerland, ZCCC will host a cricket nets and training session purely for girls & women on Saturday 5th December from 9 - 10.30am. It is hoped that this will become a regular session within the club in the new year.
Zurich Crickets Under 19s bring the Geneva Indoor Trophy home! (22nd November)
With seven Zurich Crickets and one guest representing the North the team overcame three other teams in T20 matches to win the U19 Geneva Indoor Tournament. It was an outstanding team effort mixed with some truly memorable individual moments with bat, ball and in the field.
Congratulations to the team.
On 14th November Basel Dragons Under 11s visited Zurich Crickets at Hottingen in a 'friendly' bid to put the result of the indoor tournament behind them.
Zurich Crickets Under 15s win the Basel Indoor Tournament! (15th November)
With an impressive team effort the ZCCC Under 15s deservedly lifted the trophy in Basel. Able to bat and bowl right through the order, this was truly a team of all-rounders that had worked hard in the build-up to the tournament, and were able to take one uncharacteristically poor performance on the first day in their stride before demonstrating what they were really capable of in all the other matches.
Congratulations to all nine players!
On Saturday 7th & Sunday 8 November, Zurich Crickets hosted a Cricket Coaches Association of Switzerland (CCAS) Level One Cricket Coaches Course at Hottingen, Zurich
Skilled & qualified cricket coaches are vital in order to develop the cricketing skills of our young players. Zurich Crickets Cricket Club gained a further 9 coaches who are all keen to contribute their new skills towards the training of young talent. This will certainly be a great boost to the club.
Report to follow
ZCCC Under 11s win the Basel Indoor Tournament! (2nd November)
Returning to the scene of their third place finish in March, Zurich went two better to win the Basel U11 Indoor Tournament for the first time since 2012! There were six teams competing for the trophy this year.
Congratulations to all the players involved over the weekend and their two coaches. Many thanks to all the parents.
Top Hampshire Coaches Return to Zurich November 6th/7th/8th
In early November 2015 two elite Hampshire coaches will be working with juniors in Zurich for three days beginning on Friday evening 6th November.
Zurich Crickets CC and Hampshire County CC’s relationship now stretches back over a 6-year period. The sessions with the players in November will focus on the individual development of the young cricketers.
The individual and small group sessions will be intensive with ZCCC coaches assisting in order to profit from the experience and expertise of these Hampshire coaches.
What a difference sticking to basics can make! (19th October)
Zurich discovered just what a differnce sticking to basics meant in an amazing turnaround last weekend when a mixed
U13 & 15 Zurich team took on their arch rivals Basel U13s at the ZIS hall on October 17.
Pictures from the match can be found here
ZCCC Under 11s combine with Basel Dragons to win the Suisse Romande tournament (12th October)
The combined U11s from Basel and Zurich formed a team called the Dragonflies to play in the final outdoor tournament of 2015, the Suisse Romande tournament.
Leman Cup wins for the Under 11 and Under 15 Schweiz teams (Zurich Crickets and Basel Dragons) while the Under 13s only just miss out. (6th/7th September)
The Under 11 season opener was played between a “Schweiz” and a “Suisse” team at Cossonay Cricket Club. In conditions similar to early season in England (i.e. chilly with leaden clouds) Schweiz lost the toss and were asked to field.
The Schweiz Under 11 XI quickly put Suisse under pressure with tight bowling and excellent fielding. Owen Thompson (ZCCC) stood out taking three wickets with the ball and also effecting two run outs. He was supported with some excellent and economical bowling by Euan (BDJCC) who also took a wicket.
Very good fielding ensured the pressure was on Suisse to score and only Gianni (GCC) managed to make a dent with top score of the match of 19* (retired) including three boundaries. Suisse
managed 85-8 after 20 overs.
In reply, Ross and Owen took the first few balls to get their eye in, before getting under way. They made a significant dent in the total with Ross (BDJCC, Captain) making 10* (retired) and Owen top scoring with 16. Euan continued the big hitting making 15* (retired), and Schweiz made the total by the 11th over.
Both teams displayed excellent team work and sportsmanship and the game made a great start to the season. There were five ZCCC players selected for the Schweiz XI: Vadim Berg, Paolo, Patel, Matti Patel, Sasha Hall and Owen Thompson. Congratulations to all of them.
Schweiz bt Suisse by 9 wickets. Player of the match: Owen (ZCCC)
The Schweiz Under 15 XI included several ZCCC players: Haresh Zeeman, Aditya Agrawal, Rahul Kavirayani, Luke Specogna, Dayn Pariaug and Surya Chandra. Batting first the Suisse XI managed to post 156 for 10 with Luke, Dayn, Rahul and Surya all contributing with wickets, but it was BDCC's Musti and Westy who did the most damage with their 5 wickets for just 24 runs between them. The chase proved a relatively straightforward matter. Some big hitting by Luke (27 off ten balls) with competent help from BDCC's Ishant (21) and Will (16 not out), as well as ZCCC's Aditya (15 not out) ensured that the Schweiz had won comfortably by 5 wickets with five overs to spare.
Well done to all those selected.
Dragons U11 beat Zurich Crickets in an exciting finish to the season (10th September)
It was a fantastic half day of cricket with all 24 Young cricketers playing and contributing well. This bodes well for Swiss Junior cricket for the coming years. The difference between the two sides on the day came down to Zurich losing more wickets and therefore runs.
Basel Dragons and Zurich Crickets U13 end of season match (29th August)
Zurich Crickets U13s 163 for 1 (Dayn 26*, Haresh 26*, Aryan 28*, Luke 24) beat Basel Dragons U13s 160 for 5 (Ed 51*, Westy 25*).
In what is becoming a regular fixture, the Dragons U13s ended their 2014/15 season with a 20:20 match against local rivals Zurich Crickets at Rankhof. Zurich brought only 5 players so Max, Jimmy
and Omair swapped sides for the day. Luke won the toss and chose to field and the Dragons made a brisk start with Will looking in excellent form. However a faster Yorker from Luke bowled Will for
10, Francis was out in similar way in the next over and then Zain fell LBW to Aryan. At 27 for 3 after 5 overs some rebuilding was needed. Ed and Westy batted sensibly keeping the scoreboard
ticking over until Ed retired on 27 to be replaced by Henry. Westy also retired two overs later on 25 bringing Ibrahim to the crease. Some good bowling made runs hard to come by and the pressure
built as Henry was run out for 10. At the end of 19 overs the score was 138 which looked a long way short of a defendable total on the lightning quick outfield of Rankhof. Luke took the last over
and bowled Ibrahim (9) with the first ball. This brought Ed back in. The next 5 balls went for 4,4,4,6,6 as Ed unleased a series of powerful shots. The total reached 160 and Ed was 51 not
out.
In reply Zurich set off like an express train reaching 68 in 5 overs with both Haresh and Dayn powering boundaries. When Dayn retired Luke came to the crease and captain Westy threw the ball to
Ed to resume the season long battle between the Swiss U13s big hitting fast bowlers. Ed bowled fast and straight and Luke had some luck but also struck some powerful blows. The Dragons got a
breakthrough when Eden took a towering catch to dismiss Luke off Westy’s bowling. By now the score was 101 in the 9th over and the Dragons needed to take more wickets. Jimmy came in and together
with Aryan batted very sensibly with some excellent shots through the covers. The Dragons bowlers slowed the run rate but didn’t manage to capture any wickets and the total was reached in over 18
for the loss of just one wicket.
This was the fifth time that the Dragons and Zurich had met in the 2014/15 season with the final tally 3:2 in Basel’s favour. We are all looking forward to resuming the rivalry in the new
season.
Swiss Under 19s journey to 5-nation European tournament for a week of matches (August 17th)
The Swiss U19s finished in a very respectable 3rd place at the 2015 U19s European 5 nations tournament that took place in Belgium from Tuesday 11th - Saturday 15th August.
Switzerland beat Luxembourg in Antwerp and eventual winners, Germany, at Waterloo, while losing to Belgum & France in their four 50-over matches. Four Zurich Crickets CC players were involved
in the matches. A full report will follow.
Winterthur CC vs Lewes Nomads (Sussex) sees five Zurich Crickets players in action. (29th July)
In a closely contested 15-over match played under the floodlights of Deutweg the hosts Winterthur CC (129 for 6) just edged out the guests from Sussex (122 for 2).
Moaz Butt scored a healthy 21 not out for WCC, while strangely the runs from Lewes Nomads came from ZCCC openers Asad Mahmood (61 not out) and Nicolas Henderson (24), as well as Osama Mahmood with a quickfire 27! With Lewes gifting 31 extras to Winterthur CC it was always going to be tough call for Lewes to score all their runs off the bat, but credit to the young batsmen, who just fell short by 7 runs.
Many thanks to WCC for inviting our players to join the match. Photos and WCC report
Swiss U15 England Tour results (16th July)
The Swiss U15s visited Oxfordshire, England to play 5 matches in as many days from 8th - 12th July 2015.
Manoj Parmar (MP Acadamey), a level 3 ECB qualified coach, who also has his own ground where the team was based, arranged a fantastic program of matches and training sessions. The team won three of their five matches. Zurich Crickets' Surya Chandra was part of the 13-strong squad.
Sky-high scores in sweltering sunshine (4th July)
Zurich Crickets Under 15 and Under 17 Players combined with guests to form 2 teams in a 30-over match at Deutweg. Despite the soaring temperatures (36+ degrees) over 500 runs were scored.
Many thanks to our guests from the West, scorers Paul L and Laurence P, as well as umpire Stephen H for the entertaining afternoon of cricket.
Swiss Colts continue their winning ways in the Senior T20 Cup (21st June)
A BIG congratulations to Swiss Colts for their fantastic win againt CERN CC in the Pickwick T20 match (21 June 2015) at Cern. This is one of their best wins in the League/Pickwick matches.
CERN CC batted first and scored 173 in 19 overs. Jack D (GRYCC) bowled brilliantly and took 6 wickets in 4 overs (Jack D 4 overs/6 wickets/24 runs ; Jai S (CCC) 4 overs/2 wickets/22 runs ; Ashwin V (GRYCC) 3.1 overs/1 wicket /21 runs). Nicolas H (ZCCC) did a great job behind the stumps with 3 stumpings.
In reply the Colts lost early wickets (3 for 25 runs, 5 overs). Colts were then 87 for 5 after 13 overs. At this stage, winning was almost an impossible task. However, Ashwin with the help of Ruan K (ZCCC) and Jack D fought till the end and registered an amazing victory with one ball to spare.
Ashwin scored an unbeaten 103 of 58 balls with nine 6s and five 4s. This is the first century scored by a Swiss Colts player in an official Cricket Switzerland League/T20 match. Ruan K (ZCCC) scored 19 runs and Jack D scored a crucial unbeaten 22 runs in 15 balls.
The Swiss Under 13s took two teams to the Luxembourg tournament this year finishing 2nd and 3rd respectively. (13th & 14th June 2015)
The Belgium U13 side won the round-robin tournament with some excellent catches and fielding, played in perfect conditions on the superb Luxembourg cricket oval.
Cricket Switzerland have agreed to take two Under 13 sides to Luxembourg for a tournament on the weekend of 13 and 14 June 2015.
The Swiss Under 13 side for the England tour in May has already been selected, and these boys will remain together to play as one of the teams in Luxembourg. Congratulations to the four Zurich Crickets players who have been selected.
Deutweg Under 15/17+ match goes down to the wire (13th June)
In a match that included players from across the country a close 35-over match in brilliant sunshine saw some very competitive cricket. Team A posted 208 for 7. In reply Team B just fell short at 207 all out.
See Scorecard Summary for details.
Many thanks to our friends from Cossonay, Gingins and Basel for journeying up to take part.
Another strong performance by ZCCC U11 team at Zuoz Junior Cricket Festival (6th & 7th June)
The nine strong U11 squad travelled to Zuoz for the Junior Cricket Festival, taking on Basel Dragons, Gingins, and two “wanderer” teams of West Leman (with players from CDL, GRYCC and La Chat) and Swiss Wanderers (with players from BDJCC and Gingins). Again they put in a very creditable performance coming joint third (with West Leman).
Swiss Junior Cricket Festival preview (3 June)
The 10th Swiss Junior Cricket Festival takes place on Saturday 6th June & Sunday 7th June 2015.
The Swiss National Junior Championships (organised by the Cricket Switzerland Junior Development Programme and hosted by the Lyceum Alpinum) is the largest gathering of junior cricketers on
one weekend in Switzerland, and is the annual showcase for Junior & Youth Cricket in this country.
Swiss Under 13s complete unbeaten tour to the UK as the Under 11s gain invaluable grass pitch experience (May 23rd)
The Swiss under 13 squad beat all before them in the May Ascension four-day tour and also included ZCCC Luke S's impressive first century. The squad excelled showing how much they had learned on previous trips and now look ready to take on UK county opposition.
For the under 11s things were a little tougher with only 2 players having had grass wicket experience prior to the tour. A couple of tough defeats kicked things off but by the final
game they were beginning to settle down and ended the tour with a win against Surrey Central District Under 10s.
Swiss U19 Colts XI win opening 40-over league match of the season and then a week later their opening T20 Cup match (May 10 and May 17)
The Cricket Switzerland Premier League (CSPL) got off to a sensational start on May 10th with Swiss Colts, consisting exclusively of Swiss U19 players from across the country, including two ZCCC players, registering a convincing victory over favorites Uprising CC in the first game of Western Division.
Swiss Colts 167 ao (36.1 overs) defeated Uprising CC 142 ao (24 overs) by 25 runs
On May 17th the Colts XI racked up over 200 runs for the loss of just 2 wickets in their T20 match against Geneva International CC to win in style.
Swiss U13 XI tour to England in mid-May
In conjunction with the Twenty20 Cricket Company, the Cricket Switzerland U13s will tour England, Surrey, from 14th to 17th May 2015.
Two Zurich Crickets have been selected to represent Switzerland on this tour.
In addition to five matches, the U13s also have a training session organised at Deando Ruxely Cricket Club and a tour of Lord's cricket ground and museum.
Excellent and competitive performances by ZCCC Under 11 team at Basel Indoor Tournament earn 3rd place (17th March)
Nine young men from Zurich Crickets CC aged 6-10 years went to Basel on the weekend of March 14/15 and took on the mighty Basel Dragons, Basel Nightfuries, Gingins and Luxembourg U11 cricket teams. They came away with a very respectable third place, beating the Nightfuries in the 3rd/ 4th place play-offs.
Coach's Report Basel U11 Indoor Tournament Basel U11 Indoor results and information
Zurich Crickets triumph at Bavaria International Youth Championship!
(16th March)
Zurich Crickets Under 14 team participated in the 9th Bavaria Cup in Munich on Saturday 14th & Sunday 15th March 2015, returning home deserved
winners.
Tournament organiser Robert Plant commented, "...your lads from Zurich deserve a lot of credit. I have rarely seen a youth team perform as a team so admirably. There was no one player who granted
natural hand-eye coordination dominated the game. It was the team as a whole, with team discipline. I hope our kids learnt a lot from Zurich this weekend".
Alex Mackay, Cricket Switzerland President, was also full of praise: "Congratulations to ZCCC U14s, I trust you had a great time & made new friends. Many thanks to the dedicated parents & coaches. Together you were all great ambassadors for Cricket Switzerland".
Read tournament Report See Gallery photos Observations from Bavaria
Basel Dragons host Under 13 indoor tournament on March 7/8 (14th March)
Congratulations to Cossonay on winning the Basel U13 tournament. Having convincingly won all three of their group games Cossonay played the hosts Basel Dragons in the final,
while, disappointingly, Zurich Crickets suffer three defeats.
Intensive Colts U17/U19 weekend in Adliswil Zurich (24th February)
Over 20 Colts players met at the weekend of Februay 21st/22nd to play four indoor matches totaling 200 overs. With team members from across the country keen to compete and raise fitness and skill levels the matches produced good cricket and some excellent individual performances.
The next round of matches will take place in Basel in March.
Zurich Crickets continue winning ways by reaching the Basel U13/15 tournament final! (February 16th)
In Basel's U13/U15 tournament held over the weekend of 14-15 February 2015, an inexperienced Zurich Crickets team (topped up by Basel Dragons) came very close to beating a full Luxembourg side in a terrific Final performance.
Six Teams from across the country competed in the tournament.
Sensational Zurich Crickets/Basel Dragons team win Under 15 Basel Indoor Tournament! (February 9th)
In what must be one of the greatest upsets in recent Swiss U15 cricketing history, the team comprising 5 Basel Dragons players and 3 Zurich Crickets Players ("Basel Crickets") WON the U15 Basel Indoor tournament held on the weekend of 7-8 February.
At the end of the competition 3 sides, Gingins Cricket Club, Basel Dragons and Basel Crickets had each won 3 of their 4 games. Under the Duckworth-Clayton Bonus Points scheme, Gingins (having been all-out for 88 in their final game) were 1 point behind Basel Dragons and Basel Crickets, level on 46 points. Having beaten Basel Dragons in their head-to-head game, Basel Crickets took the trophy.
Read on... Full Indoor Tournament Report
Easter weekend coaching sessions with Manoj Parmar (February 8th)
Manoj Parmar will be spending three days (3rd-5th April) with a group of ZCCC players who have signed up for the sessions at the Hottingen gyms. This will be a perfect opportunity to get the players in the right frame of mind before they move outdoors later this month. Already in early December 2014 players benefitted from sessions with Manoj when he came over to Zurich.
MP Academy is managed by Manoj Parmar, an experienced ECB Level III coach, MCC member and ex First Class cricketer from India. For 16 years Manoj has worked tirelessly to offer high quality coaching and competition programmes in and around Thame in South Oxfordshire. In fact several ZCCC players have also shown interest in spending several days at the MP Academy and hopefully a group will travel to Thame over the Ascension weekend in May.
http://mpsportscricketacademy.co.uk
Switzerland U11 squad to tour UK in mid-May
Cricket Switzerland Youth Development are pleased to announce that from Thursday 14th to Sunday 17th May 2015 the Switzerland U11s will play five games in as many days in the south of
England.
They will also take advantage of some professional coaching opportunties with the T20International Cricket Company at Deando Ruxley and join the Switzerland U13s on a tour to Lord's cricket
ground.
Early season Under 19 indoor opener produces two fast and furious T20 matches (26th January)
With all the players able to shine and show magic moments the Bäumlihof hall in Basel showcased some of what is best at this level: commitment, grit, sheer hard work and some great skills.
Competition was fierce and there will clearly be a lot of players seeking to impress coaches and selectors ahead of the Under 19 Five Nations Tournament in Belgium later this year in August.
see Bäumlihof Basel scorecards
Back row: Jack D (GRYCC), Max M (GCC), Ruwan J (BDCC), Hassan A (ZCCC), Arun A (ZCCC), Asad M (PWCC), Osama M (PWCC), Ziad N (ZCCC)
Front row: Simon P (GCC), Aidan A (GCC), Nic H (ZCCC), Ruan K (ZCCC), Tom R (BDCC), Yash R (GRYCC)