Star CC - 2001 cup winners Photo © ICC

In its first full year in the LCF Crosscom championship, Star Cricket Club (SCC) Strassen won the 2001 LCF cup, replacing Communities Cricket Club (CCC) as the top team in the Luxembourg league. Comprising of a healthy mix of experienced campaigners and talented and enthusiastic youngsters, SCC won 4 of its 5 league matches ñ losing just once by the minimal margin of 1 run!

The season started well for SCC with a comprehensive victory over Rugby Club, with Ramachandran shining with both bat (55*) and ball (2-10). This was followed by a victory over the Maidens with Sawhney (31*) and Ramachandran (27*) sportingly retiring to set up an interesting finish. SCCs third match with OCC proved to be the thriller of the season ñ in fact, according to some senior OCC players, it was one of the closest games ever played at the Walferdange ground. OCC won by 1 run despite good performances from Sawhney (44) and Paul (3-20) for SCC. SCC skipper Trivedi almost brought off an improbable victory, bringing SCC to within 1 run of the target.

SCC's loss to OCC opened up the championship mid-season, with its match against CCC (the defending champions) proving to be of utmost importance. The batting of Jung (54) and Paul (48) and the bowling of Gandhi (2-31) ensured an SCC victory over CCC in a closely fought match. When OCC also beat CCC a few days later, the defending champions were out of the reckoning for the year.

Whilst all the captains were busily working out winning formulas and aggregating championship points and rankings, SCC also beat Blackstuff in its final encounter, with Ramachandran and Sawhney scoring 37 apiece to seal the championship.

The SCC team members would like to extend a big 'thank you' to the executive committee of the LCF for a well-organised year of cricket, and to the Optimists for playing host to all the matches at the Walferdange Cricket ground. Finally, it wishes to extend its appreciation to all the participating cricket teams for a hard fought and interesting 2001 league. A special thanks to all the umpires, David Crowther, Bryan Rouse, Ben laugheed and Ron Fyfe. The Stars - Romesh Paul, Madhu Ramachandran, Sanjiv Sawhney,Niraj Trivedi (Captain) Aamir Bin jung, Nishith Gandhi, Deepak Gianchandani, Gautam Gianchandani (Wicket Keeper), Sunil Khitri, Jag Nazran, Anand, Nasir Mohammed, John Gamaleil, Jatin Munsad, Tilak Munsad - have done it this year. Here's hoping for 2002 to be another exciting year where they can prove themselves worthy champions and defend the cup they fought to win this year.