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JUNIORS GET 2007 OFF TO WINNING START
Patrick Henderson
The victory kicked-off an exciting season of action, including tours to Vienna and Denmark, a tournament hosted by Zuoz in Switzerland and a number of home matches.
The Swiss Under-13 side came out on top of the eight-a-side tournament after facing the Munich Lions, the Munich Tigers, the Austria Reds and the Czech Republic during the weekend of March 10-11.
In Saturday’s group stage, Switzerland bowled Austria out for a low score and chased down the runs without losing a wicket. This was followed by equally impressive victories against the other three teams, including 106 runs in six overs against the Munich Tigers. At the end of the first day Switzerland led the tournament with four wins and no losses - and 47 points out of a possible 50.
The two innings final between Switzerland and Austria was closer than their group match. After a close first innings Switzerland dismissed Austria for a modest total and they were able to knock off the runs comfortably with several overs to spare to win the trophy.
Michael Holmes beat off a strong challenge from Wadan Khan to take the Best Batting award and DavidMcGhee just pipped Leo Massey to the Best Bowling award.
Switzerland’s victorious under-13 team: Michael Holmes, Ross Cameron, Joe Boucher and Leo Massey (from Zurich) and David McGhee (captain), Wadan Khan, Thomas Van and Henry Drake (from Geneva).
The Swiss Under-17 team performed admirably in the six-a-side Under-19 age category in Tegernsee, Germany. The team improved on their record of one win out of four games during the under-15 event in Tegernsee last year.
Playing almost immediately after arriving from a long car journey, the young team started badly. They were all out for just 26 and lost easily to eventual champions Austria A. Yet after that things just kept getting better. The strong bowling line up proved just too much for the other four teams in the tournament. Although, the team never passed 100, the highest score any opposition managed was 62.
Skipper, Peter Crook polished off Germany A with an irresistible hat-trick (one LBW and two clean bowled) and Austria B failed to chase a target of 90 following some outstanding fielding and two wickets in two balls from eventual Man of the Tournament David Kuster.
The victories against Germany B and Zuoz Lyceum were pretty resounding and gave the Swiss side a record of four wins from five. Although the way the tournament was organised meant that we officially took third place, it was clear that, having beaten every other side, the Swiss were the second best team on show.
© Swiss Cricket Association
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