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The German Cricket Federation (GCF) began negotiations with Bill Frindall MBE to act as its Patron back in 2005 and since this he has been kind enough to visit the country four times.

After a Christmas dinner with Brian Fell, GCF President, Bill attended the Dortmund Indoor Tournament in January. He not only offered encouragement but also gave vital bowling tips to new cricketers from the Rhine and northern regions. With his instinctive acumen and feel for statistics, he chose the award-winning players with barely a look at the score sheets. These players then went on to establish new records with their teams in the 2007 season!

In February, Bill gave a seminar on cricketing Laws and scoring for the North-Rhine teams in Bonn, but the seminar was so popular that we had guests from Luxembourg, Belgium and the UK with us at this highly successfully event.

Bill then joined up with the GCF again in the UK when a group of budding young girl players attended a training camp in Bristol in June with our new partnership-County, Gloucestershire. In October he visited Berlin to deliver more talks and run a scoring course.

According to Wraye Wenigmann, Director of Women’s Development for the GCF, a major problem across Europe is that the large youth base and ex-pat community have a relatively scant or non-existent base to the history and tradition of cricket. Often, young players, unless coached, can barely name a single Test Captain and coaches have a hard job teaching the ground rules. It is on this lack of history and understanding that patron Bill can make a lasting impact.

Wenigmann says that “Although few native German players know of Bill’s background, this has never been a problem. A seminar with Bill is unforgettable. His vast knowledge and love of the game remain incomparable and infectious. A basic recital of the Laws is coloured by memories of the games he himself has scored so that various dismissals off a wide or no ball become instantly understandable. Bill is a natural teacher. Not only that, he communicates the history of the game and a sense of belonging in a cricket family that perhaps some European players have never experienced before.”

 “We consider ourselves very lucky to have Bill on our side.

Patrons? – Every country should have one!”