"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are." This was said by Theodore Roosevelt, but could be applied to the Swiss team during the European Cricket Council Trophy competition in Austria.
The team, not as strong as it might have been due to some unforeseen prior commitments, was made up of a mix of youth and experience and ably lead by Tom Brink.
The team consisted of:
Tom Brink (Capt.)SwissBern CCBatsmanAlex AlexandrouSwissNomads CC BatsmanMounir BaroneSwissGeneva CCAllrounderThomas BowlerSwissWinterthur CC BowlerGeoff Des LignerisSwissBern CCBowlerMichael FussSwissGeneva CC BowlerAndy RoostSwissWinterthur CC BowlerRaja AliNationalisedNomads CC BowlerNelson BurrelNationalisedGeneva CC AllrounderAbraham Koshy (wk)NationalisedBern CCBatsmanJacques BoshoffExpatriateBasle CC AllrounderKanthan Muthuccumarasamy ExpatriateNomads CC AllrounderTeam ManagerDrew GamageCossonay CC
The opposition though proved too strong despite some notable performances, especially on the bowling front, where Jacques Boshoff took the Best Bowler award in Velden. In the three games Switzerland played there, he had total figures of 19-3-62-7.
In the group games Switzerland were with host nation Austria (L), Belgium (L), Croatia (W) and Greece (L), and with the one win ended up in forth place. With these results, they fought out the seventh / eighth overall place with Finland from the Seebarn group, who won, despite the Swiss team posting their highest score of the competition with 218.
The young Swiss players regardless of the disappointing results, gained experience in competitive cricket and the national side, because of this, will have something to build-on for future competitions.
This final paragraph on the international front is a recognition of the sponsors of the national side, Below the Line Printing, Martelli Travel Agents, Seritextile and World Radio Geneva all of whom helped get the team to Austria.
For emerging cricketing countries sponsors are vital, as much work and travel is done on a voluntary basis. So the support of individuals and companies helps spread the word and put together a competitive national side.
Moving onto the home league situation, the Western division is pretty well rapped up with Bern probably taking the top spot and Geneva second. The almost completed table looks like this:
PlayedWonLost NR SumRRBern6 4 0 2 136 34.0Geneva5 3 1 1 121 30.3CERN5 2 3 074 14.8Cossonay 6 0 5 1377.4
Cossonay in spite of an out of league win against CERN earlier in the season could not repeat the performance in the last couple of weeks when they met the scientists twice and consequently are going to receive the wooden spoon for the second year in a row.
CERN are hosting Geneva this weekend and Bern should have been hosting Cossonay to complete the division apart from a No Result game between Bern and Geneva.
The Bern/Cossonay game though has been postponed again due to both teams having difficulties in raising a team for this rescheduled game.
With this situation now comes the interesting part and the slightly complicated mathematical bit. If you can follow the next bit you are doing well.
Concerning the outstanding fixtures, if Geneva beat CERN, Bern will be desperate to play Cossonay or to play the NR game against Geneva to regain the top spot. If these two games are not played Geneva will top the group and have home advantage in the semi-finals.
If the two games are played and Bern beat both CERN and Geneva, then Bern would top the league.
However, if those games are played and Geneva beat both CERN and Bern and Bern lose heavily to Cossonay, then Geneva could top the league!
Under no circumstances, it should be pointed out, can CERN overtake Geneva.
Now on to the Eastern Division where things are still tight for second place, with the top spot probably heading to Zurich United.
Here is the table as of writing:
PlayedWonLost NRSumRRUnited7 4 1 2 120 24.0Winterthur 8 3 3 2 130 21.7Classic6 3 2 196 19.2Royal Lankans 6 1 4 1499.8Nomads6 2 4 0599.8
Winterthur have returned to second spot with Classic's loss to the league leaders United. But with two games in hand, Classic could collect the 34 points they need to prevent Winterthur from qualifying for the semi-finals and therefore defending their title!
Vio a, that is it for now from Switzerland, more next month when the leagues will be finished and the results of the semi-finals should be known, till then enjoy your cricket.