Welcome to the Gingins Cricket Club

The tournament was held in the new sports hall of the La Chataigneraie campus of the International School of Geneva. Six teams were present: Basel, Cossonay, La Chat (a new team from the International School ), Luxembourg, Zurich and hosts Gingins. Matches were 20 overs.

Gingins vs La Chat (Winners: Gingins)
A new and relatively inexperienced La Chat were playing in their first tournament match.

Gingins batted first and got to 143, with the two openers Thomas (32 n.o.) and Rohan (33 n.o.) both retiring and then Max hitting a quick 29 not out, with some good running (after a hesitant start) with George who was also not out on a useful 8. La Chat found it difficult to score against Gingins bowlers with only Seb, Fred and Finn managing to get on the scoreboard. There was tight bowling from Thomas (1 wicket), Max (1 wicket) and Leo but especially Rohan with a double-wicket maiden and a run-out. La Chat were finally bowled out for 43.

Gingins Player: Our confidence was high, and we were trying to give our best performance. I enjoyed finding the gaps on the side wall.

Cossonay vs Luxembourg (Winners: Cossonay)
This was the most dramatic game in the tournament. Luxembourg scored 94 all out (Max top scoring with 18) with Ryan and Greg both taking 2 wickets.
Cossonay were up against excellent fielding by Luxembourg, even though the Cossonay batsmen were hitting the ball well, fielding on the back wall by Luxembourg was preventing any 4s.
Wickets were falling regularly with Marcus taking 2 and performing a great runout to remove Greg. There were also 2 stumpings off Robert’s bowling, which left just Arnav, who had batted through the innning and Finn. Arnav managed to take strike for the last over. He was facing Marcus and needed 12 off the last over to win.
3 well bowled and fielded dot balls meant 12 were needed to win off the last 3 balls!
Arnav managed to pierce the Luxembourg fielders to make a 4. Then a single off the wall, meant 6 were needed to tie. Arnav, by this time well up the wicket, launched himself into the last ball and hit it high into the back wall! Cossonay had managed to tie the game, and because they had one less wicket, came out winners of a very close game.

Basel vs Gingins (Winners: Basel)
Basel scored 123 with Sidhart retiring on 30, Thomas K making 16 and Cameron 15. Tight and effective bowling by Thomas with 4 wickets (12-4) and also Luca picking up 2 wickets, and Oliver taking a good catch to remove Tom B. meant that the Basel batsmen didn't get more runs, but unfortunately 20 wides added to an extras total of 48.
It wasn't to be Gingin’s match from the batting either, with only Rohan putting up resistance for an excellent 28 not out, carrying his bat through the innings. But the bowling by Basel, especially the tight and accurate spin of Sidhart (7-4) which seemed to mesmerise the Gingins batsmen, meant that they could only score 53 in reply.

Gingins player: Our standards were high, but when we realised the opposition was strong we lost confidence, even though we seemed to pull it together in the last overs, but by that time the game was lost. Our bowling was not as accurate as it should be even though we fielded well. Then, although Rohan gave us a solid base and we tried to follow the example, we couldn’t manage to build up an innings.

Zurich vs Luxembourg (Winners: Zurich)
Zurich scored 79 through a well-played 27 from Ruan and useful 9 from Matté, though Luxembourg fielded well with 2 run-outs and Marcus and Luca restricted the Zurich batsmen.
But the total surprisingly proved enough with Luxembourg bowled out for 59 with wickets shared between the Zurich bowlers and only Jack (10) getting into double figures.

Basel vs La Chat (Winners: Basel)
Basel scored 135 with Tom K. (31 n.o.) and Mustafa (34 n.o.) both retiring, but La Chat took wickets through first Ian taking the valuable wicket of Sidhart and then wickets for Devansh and Finn with Finn bowling a wicket maiden.
La Chat couldn't make the total of Basel and were all out for 77, but there were useful innings from Seb , Salam, and at the end Alex (11 n.o.).

Semi-final: Cossonay vs Basel (Winners: Cossonay)

Semi-final: Gingins vs Zurich (Winners: Zurich)
Max and John opened the innings, but it wasn't to be John's match as he was bowled by Ruan’s aggressive opening bowling. Max looked like he was settling in and the score was moving along with Thomas, but then Max played inside a ball from Tom B. and was caught behind.
Thomas continued with Rohan until Rohan was caught at mid-wicket. Then George scored 5 before Ruan took his wicket. Luca was run-out for 2 and finally Thomas was out for an excellent 29, bowled by Damien, to leave Zurich needing 108 to win. Was it enough?
The answer came relatively quickly with Ruan (30 n.o.) and Tom B.(31 n.o.) both retiring and the Gingins bowlers seemed to be firing below par, with only Thomas (2) and Max (1) picking up wickets, even though both were not bowling at their best. Zurich won with 5 overs to spare.

Gingins player: Learnt lessons from the previous game and we wanted to restore our reputation. Batting - We wanted to build an innings but, some of us were unlucky. We played well together but were still 20 runs short of what was needed. Bowling - We tried to do better but match practice seemed to be missing, we gave away lots of extras. But fielding had improved.

5th Place: La Chat vs Luxembourg (Winners: Luxembourg)
Luxembourg scored 129 with Thomas (31 n.o.) and Max (30 n.o.) retiring and both Marcus (15) and Luca (14) getting runs.
La Chat started steadily with Devansh top scoring with 10 and Seb and Fred both with 6. But the Luxembourg bowling and fielding was too strong with Marcus 6-3 and La Chat bowled out for 57.

Final: Cossonay vs Zurich (Winners: Zurich)
Zurich made 141 with Ruan (30), Damien retiring on 32, and Dali retiring on 30.
But Cossonay made them play for that score with Arnav getting 3 wickets (19-3), Daniel and Ryan taking a wicket apiece and Ryan taking a great catch.
Cossonay started very well with Daniel and Arnav and the partnership lasted until the 14th over when Daniel was run out by Ruan for 22. The score was then on 95. Greg came on, but was run out after only scoring a few runs, and then wickets quickly fell due to bowling by Damien and Ruan to leave Cossonay falling behind, and despite a late 4 from John they finished on 133 at the end of the 20 overs.

Congratulations to the tournament winners Zurich. The best batsmen was Ruan from Zurich (also special mention to Arnav), the best bowler Damien from Zurich and the best fielder, Ryan from Cossonay. The Spirit of Cricket award went to La Chat to recognise their achievement in building a new team.

This year for the first time, Gingins was organizing a national indoor tournament for the U17s in the new sports hall of the La Chataigneraie campus of the International School of Geneva. Four teams were present: CDL, Cossonay, Wanderers - a combination of players from various clubs - and hosts Gingins, which allowed to play longer matches (25 overs).

The tournament opened with Gingins batting vs CDL. As always, Aidan (20) opened solidly, and, notwithstanding good bowling from the two Ashwins, Floris (58 n.o.) and Josh (17) built a 3rd wicket stand of 87 runs, cleverly using the side walls and placing shots in the corners. With a good contribution from Mr Extra, Gingins ended on 154 a.o. in the 25th over.

Although the Gingins bowlers had some problems to bowl straight, too, the only player who made a good score was Ashwin Vinod, until he was superbly bowled by Ro for 45. CDL were all out for 116, with Floris getting two wickets and four players (Ale, Vince, Josh and Ro) each one wicket.

In the next match Wanderers, with two Zurich players and the other players from Gingins (U17 and U15), scored 109 runs against Cossonay, with more than half coming from Ale (53) and Thomas (14). The Cossonay wickets were shared between Jai (2), Greg (3), and Arnav (1). Cossonay were, however, no match for them: they were all out for just over 40; Moaz took 3 wickets, assisted by Thomas and Ale with each one wicket.

In the following match, Gingins-Cossonay, the top three batsmen of Gingins made their ‘usual’ contribution: Aidan with 51 n.o., Ale with a fast 38 and Floris 35. A useful 14 of Josh gave a total of 169. The best Cossonay bowlers were Jai with 2 and Ian and Greg with each 1 wicket. Again, Cossonay were unsuccessful in their batting; out of a total of 82, only Ian and Marcus reached double figures. Both Ale and Floris took two wickets, with one wicket for Max, Vince and Simon.

Wanderers were no match for CDL, with only Thomas getting more than 10 runs. The two Ashwins (2 wickets each) and Arjun (3 wickets) were too difficult for them.

CDL needed only 13 overs to make this total, although there was fierce defense from Moaz (3 wickets) and Ro (2 wickets, of which one very well caught off the ceiling on own bowling).

In the first match on Sunday, Gingins had reversed its batting order against the Wanderers and struggled to get a decent total. Alistair (19) started well, and it was only when Floris (19) and Ale (39) came in that a good partnership was achieved. Gingins finished at 100, a total which did not seem impossible to make for Wanderers, who had now been strengthened with some players from the Geneva region.

However, tight bowling by Vince and Simon (1-7 resp. 1-13 in 5 overs), neat bowling from Aidan (2 wickets) and sharp fielding limited their total to 90, giving Gingins a 10 run victory.

In their last match, a reborn Cossonay managed to get a reasonable score of 117, with main contributions from Vincent (18) and top scorer George (28). They also fielded and bowled sharply – two remarkable catches from Greg - limiting CDL to 90 (Ashwin V 19, Mrdad 21, Jordan 13).

Gingins, who had shown the best team play and won all their games, became the overall winner, with Floris chosen best batsman.

The other teams all won one match, with Moaz of Wanderers chosen as best bowler (8 wickets, against Arjun 7 and Ashwin C. 6), Ashwin V. of CDL as best fielder and Cossonay winning the Spirit of Cricket award.

Luxembourg U13 (72 & 67) lost to Switzerland U13 (103-7 declared & 37-3) by 7 wickets

The long awaited match up between the U13 teams of Luxembourg and Switzerland at Duetweg, Winterthur was over the weekend of September 21/22 in glorious autumnal sunshine.

This was the first time that the boys had played over 2 days in a 2 innings format and it proved to be a great experience.

Swiss captain Rohan Jain won the toss and elected to field.It soon became clear that scoring runs on a wicket with variable bounce and a soft outfield following the rain in the previous week, was going to be difficult.The openers Thomas Martin and Brice Barzin batted sensibly, seeing of the Swiss opening bowlers but both fell to first change bowler Jack Morris in the 8th over.

The ‘spin twins’ Will Clayton and Rohan Jain then bowled in tandem, taking a wicket each and cutting the flow of runs. Only Marcus Cope and Robert Walker offered real resistance to the Swiss bowlers but once Marcus was out to the bowling of Ben Harper, the writing was on the wall and Luxembourg finished on 72 all out in the 27th over. Jack Morris finished with 3 for 14 and Rohan Jain with 2 for 8.

In reply, the Swiss innings started badly against some fine bowling from Marcus Cope and Oscar Ramsden, 3 wickets falling for just 5 runs in 6 overs. At this point, Rohan Jain joined opener Callum Wright at the wicket to repair the innings. Both batted with maturity beyond their years, defending stoutly and taking singles whenever and wherever possible. The pair put on 78 in 22 overs in a 4th wicket stand that firmly swung the whole game in favour of the Swiss team. Rohan made 19 and Callum 22 leaving the later batsmen to play their shots freely. John Cumberland finished the innings unbeaten on 12 leaving Switzerland on 103 for 7 at the end of day one. Marcus Cope finished with 4 for 12 from 6 overs and Oscar Ramsden 2 for 9, both brilliant individual performances.

The match resumed on Sunday morning with Luxembourg batting for a second time. With a heavy dew and wet outfield, both bowling and scoring were going to be difficult. However, it was the Swiss team that adapted to the conditions best with Thomas Allen clean bowling Brice Barzin and Marcus Cope in his first spell. Wickets fell regularly and at 41 for 9 after 20 overs, victory looked like a mere formality for the Swiss team. However, cricket has a funny habit of throwing up the unexpected. Robert Hagermann and Surya Selvaraj dug in and refused to give up their wickets.

The Swiss bowling and fielding dropped from its previously high standard, extras began to mount up until eventually Robert was bowled by Ben Harper. The last pair put on 27, by far the highest stand of the innings, meaning the Swiss had a target of 37 to win. Ben Harper was the pick of the bowlers with 3 for 2 from 3.4 overs, Ollie Miller also chipping in with 2 for 4 from 2 overs.

Perhaps the Swiss boys started too confidently but after the first over from Marcus Cope, the smiles were gone. With the 4th, 5th and 6th balls of the innings, Marcus completed a stunning hat-trick, all clean bowled. As the saying goes, ‘cometh the hour, cometh the man’, captain Rohan was sent out to join opener Ollie Miller to prop up the innings . Ollie and Rohan batted sensibly, taking no risks, defending well against excellent bowling and picking off the singles.

Gradually, the target looked achievable and was finally overcome in the 16th over, Ollie finishing unbeaten on 7 and Rohan on 12, giving the Swiss team victory by 7 wickets. Marcus finished with remarkable figures of 3 for 2 off 4 overs and match figures of 7 for 14 from 10 overs.

Rohan Jain picked up the man of the match award!

As Libby & I travelled to the “Commune de Gingins” by train from Milan I started to think of the upcoming cricket clinic and the best way to ensure the kids had a great experience.

After years working & coaching in the sport and education sector I have always determined my effectiveness by the response of the participants. I believe if they return session after session, season after season, then something positive must be happening!!

Even at 48 years of age I still get excited about the opportunity to engage with cricketers. July 2013 in Geneva was no exception!! Although I had spoken to & exchanged numerous emails with Scott, googled GCC, looked at photos on the website and followed your achievements on twitter, the image of coaching cricket at the foot of the Jura range seemed somewhat foreign.

After 4 years of stories from previous Cricket Victoria guest coaches I was very excited about the 2 days ahead at GCC.
Once I met Scott & Luca Poynton at Geneva station I was immediately struck by their enthusiasm & energy level. This made me realise the wonderful experience I was about to have. I certainly was not disappointed. I will remember my time with GCC forever and here are some reflections:

♦ I’m in awe of the facilities you use and the sheer blood, sweat and tears that have created a cricket facility in a rather foreign cricket land! Bowling machines, nets, every imaginable coaching aid available - how can a coach and player not have fun!!

♦ The wonderful mix of backgrounds and journeys that have brought all the kids together – cricket is a wonderful vehicle and catalyst for bringing people together. GCC must be so proud of this singular achievement alone. Meeting all the kids on the first day and seeing them all resplendent in their GCC uniforms also made an impression. As Bradman said, “If you can’t play at least look like a cricketer”

♦ The support of Andy, Alex & Arnold made my role so much easier. I certainly had plenty of support!!

♦ What a wonderful group of young cricketers! Their enthusiasm and willingness to throw themselves into each activity created a truly dynamic environment and hopefully the activities help them to develop their understanding and skills of our great game. I really enjoyed the manner in the kids looked out for each other and were quick to include each other in each activity. Given the warm weather they also demonstrated they had more than enough stamina to play a test match!!

I was inspired by the story of GCC and only too happy to be able to visit. Congratulations to Scott and Manish who founded the club and to everyone else who volunteers their time to assist. Judging from the recent results perhaps the clinic actually helped the kids in their preparations!!

Thanks so much for giving me the opportunity to me you all and share a most memorable experience at GCC.

Long Live Cricket

John Watkin

Back in 2007 when we were thinking of starting Gingins CC, it was the idea of kids playing together as a team, enjoying themselves together around the great game of cricket that motivated us most.

Right from the start of the Club in March 2008, this has been a key focus of everything we’ve done.

We’ve had huge amounts of fun in the process and we’re constantly looking for new experiences for our kids to give them life-long memories of their formative years here in Switzerland, playing cricket with their mates and not missing out on the chances that they would otherwise have enjoyed had their families stayed put in the UK, in Australia, India, South Africa…wherever cricket is played as a serious sport.

With this in mind, one of our families – the Winckels who are Dutch – came up with a terrific idea about a year ago. Sander said “How about we take a team to tour in The Netherlands?” They do indeed play serious cricket in The Netherlands. I like to remind my English mates (many of who have rediscovered our friendship it seems in recent months) that the last time England played Netherlands, Netherlands won. Indeed, Sander played cricket as a lad and as an adult in The Netherlands and that has inspired his son Floris to take up the sport.

They set about the task with great energy. Sander contacted a large number of Clubs across The Netherlands and Monica organized the logistics. We couldn’t have known what a truly memorable experience awaited us as we boarded our plane in Geneva, bound for Amsterdam on Sunday August 18th.

We took eleven lads with us. We had ten from Gingins CC and one from GRYCC. Nine of the boys were born in 1998, one in 1997 and one in 1999 so we were a mixed U14/U15 team. Typically for Swiss cricket, we had a mixture of nationalities – mostly English but with a few Aussies, a South African, a Swiss/English, a Swiss/Dutch and a Dutch lad to help us understand the oppositions’ sledges!

Monday morning opened with a training camp organized by Voorburg CC. The Club was established in 1932 and has a terrific new clubhouse, grass wickets and an all weather pitch. The head coach there is Australian and he had two Kiwi coaches to assist him. They focused on batting and bowling skills in a two-hour session that included a good mix of kids from all over The Netherlands. This was a good way for us to get the tour started because most of our lads hadn’t played any competitive cricket for two months. We were then treated to a great lunch and, in bright and brilliant sunshine that had broken through after a morning storm – and subsequently lasted the whole week - we took on a team comprising a select group of kids from the camp.

We had a good win in that game, posting a total of 157 for 4 from our 20 overs and restricting VCC to 107 for 4. Really some of the kids weren’t yet ready to face the sort of bowling we had at our disposal but again, it was a fun match and a good way to ease into what we expected to be much tougher games in the week ahead.

The great people at VCC then put on a very fine dinner for us all. We presented the Club with our Gingins CC banner and VCC were so kind as to present us with a beautiful “Delft” pottery tile painted with their logo. This will hang with pride of place in our little room at the Gingins Centre Sportif.

That night, the fun really began because Monica had chosen our accommodation effectively. It was a bungalow/caravan/camping park called Duinrell, in Wassenaar, located in the center of all the venues during the week. The accommodation was fine enough but the best thing was that it had a water park and amusement park attached to it. As residents, our lads had free access to the pool and the amusements and boy, did they enjoy themselves! We later heard stories of all the rides and water slides and how all eleven lads had taken rides and slides altogether; brilliant. The best thing was that us adults could sit quietly with a beer or wine at Monica and Sander’s bungalow reassured in the knowledge that the kids were safe in the park.

Next day we travelled to Schiedam, near to Rotterdam to take on Hermes DVS CC. Hermes CC was established in 1884 so have a wonderful tradition. Again, we were very envious of their excellent grounds and facilities.

We lost the toss – the only loss in the six matches we played – and were put in to bat. We batted for thirty overs, scoring 173 runs for 8 with both openers retiring at 50 and our number three making a rapid-fire 25. It was a good batting performance overall and it proved too big a target for the Hermes lads.

In the end, we had them all out for 79 a.o. through a combination of tight bowling and excellent fielding. Again, we enjoyed a nice dinner with our hosts – who had also put on a fine afternoon tea between innings – and each of us were presented with the Club’s 125 year celebration book. It really was something to think that we had played a Club with such a long tradition when our Club is not even ten years old.

Wednesday was a designated rest day from cricket but the lads did anything but rest. A few folk visited Amsterdam or family nearby but almost all of the lads headed straight to the amusement and water park facilities and spent the morning there. Lunch at 1:00pm was followed by a short bowling practice session before we headed to the beach, just a few kilometers from where we were staying.

The lads had a great time – catching practice in the North Sea swimming and just spending time together – before we linked up with returning families from Amsterdam for an excellent meal on the beach. Thursday was an important day – we were competing in the Dutch T20 U14 National Championship – so we had the boys in bed good and early; no rides tonight!

The Championship was organized by Cricket Touring Club de Flamingo’s. Founded in 1921, the Flamingo’s members are generally Dutch cricketers who mostly play or have played at a high level. Since 1925, the Flamingo’s have organized many junior tournaments throughout the season and the Club has a strong relationship with the Royal Dutch Cricket Association.

We were up at sparrows the next day to travel to the Amsterdam CC in Amstelveen which was where the Flamingo’s were hosting the tournament. ACC was established in 1921 and is another magnificent club with great grounds and a terrific clubhouse. ACC was also our first opponent for the morning to get the tournament started. We won the toss and chose to bowl, thinking it would be wise to check out the field and the opposition before venturing to the crease ourselves.

Once again, our bowlers performed brilliantly, restricting ACC to 84 for 7 off their 20 overs. It was really pleasing that we really restricted the number of extras, bowled straight and fielded strongly. Again, we made rapid work of the run chase, with both openers retiring at 30 and the rest of the lads mopping up the required runs, with no loss of wickets.

Next up was Hermes DVS CC, the same team we had played over 30 overs on Tuesday. We won the toss and bowled again, restricting the Hermes lads to 100 runs for 8. We decided to reverse our batting order – not without risk – but in the end, we scored the required runs without too many difficulties for the loss of 6 wickets.

Two wins from both preliminary matches meant that we were in the Final, scheduled for 5:00pm. Our lads enjoyed a terrific lunch put on by our hosts, spent some time in the nets and then prepared to play The Hague CC (established in 1878) in the final. HCC are reigning Dutch National champs and are undefeated in the 2013 season. They had scored heavily in their two preliminary matches so we knew we had a challenge on our hands.

We won the toss and again decided to bowl. The HCC openers got off to a flying start – 34 without loss after 4 overs – with the Gingins boys being guilty of some overconfidence in the field. When the first wicket fell – a beautiful ball taking out off stump – the lads regrouped and focused down on the task of restricting the HCC batsmen to a gettable total. The GCC lads did brilliantly in this respect. Again, very few extras and after their allotted 20 overs, HCC were 91 a.o..

You don’t go through a season undefeated unless you can bat AND bowl so we knew we still very much had a match on our hands. This sense was heightened when both our openers – who had scored heavily in all our other matches – found themselves quickly back in the pavilion. We have strength in our depth at Gingins though and our number 3 and 4 batsmen calmly set about moving the scoreboard along.

Our number 4 fell and our number 5 came in with HCC sensing an opening through to our lower order. Great batting from the two lads steadied the ship though and step-by-step they moved toward the very reachable target. Our number 3 fell a few runs short of the total having done terrific work in getting us to that point. This left our number 6 to come out and see the job done in support of our number 5.

As the ball sped away and the batsmen crossed for the winning run, our lads on the boundary celebrated with glee, joining their teammates on the field in a great group team hug. The HCC lads had put up a great fight and though the scoreboard says we only lost 4 wickets in the run chase, really the game was much closer than that suggested.

We had set our sights on a strong performance in the T20 tournament but never could we have imagined that we would have won it. We respect very much the excellent set up we saw at all the Clubs we visited in The Netherlands. What we learned was that our own efforts in Switzerland to build a team and to build the kids’ skills were on par with what was happening in The Netherlands. We also learned that the great efforts over many years of Cricket Switzerland to foster excellence and strong development in the youth game really was excellent, especially in light of the dearth of grounds, pitches and facilities here in Switzerland. Our win in the Dutch National U14 T20 Championship is a great thing for Gingins but congratulations and credit must also go to Cricket Switzerland.

Our hosts at ACC put on a terrific BBQ for dinner that evening and there was a wonderful prize giving ceremony. There were cups for the 3rd, 2nd and of course 1st placed teams and we watched with great pride as our boys held the winners trophy aloft, huge smiles covering every face. Really, we were pinching ourselves.

The tour was not yet over though and on the Friday we had a final game against a combined team from Bloemendaal CC (est 1910) and Red & White CC (est 1881). We won the toss yet again and decided to bat; really to set the boys free to see what total they could post. We posted a strong 189 for 6 from 30 overs with two lads retiring at 30 and another coming close. We mixed up the bowling line up again, ensuring that everyone got a bowl and we managed to restrict the opposition guys to 129 for 8 from their 30 overs.

Again our hosts put on a fine post-match meal and we all sat quietly to reflect on what had been a truly exceptional week. Six wins from six matches including the Dutch National U14 T20 Championship was so much more than we had expected. Fun in the water park, amusement park and on the beach on top of just spending a terrific week together in everyone’s company was a priceless gift.

Every boy in the team bowled and indeed every single boy took at least one wicket over the 6 games. Every boy batted and every boy contributed magnificently to the great team spirit we value so strongly, no one stepped backwards in the field. The fielding, overall, was good, with most catches taken and some magnificent throws from the outfield causing run outs.

We thank our hosts from all of the Dutch clubs with great warmth. We were left feeling that the Dutch youth cricket program is in strong health and very focused on ensuring the kids have a great experience playing the great game and that everyone was motivated to help and support the kids to achieve whatever they want in the game. The hospitality was second to none, the grounds were brilliant, the respect and spirit in which all games were played was magnificent.

We were invited by CTC Flamingos to come again next year to defend the trophy and we will most certainly do that. Flamingos also noted that the levels between the ages were comparable and so invited us to participate in the U19 tournament next year as well. We certainly will make plans to do so.

Overall, as I sat on the plane flying home on Friday evening, a tremendous week behind us, I reflected on those thoughts I’d had back in 2007; about why we had started the Club in Gingins. We wanted to start a village cricket club with all of the homely spirit that brings and to bring kids from all over the world together to play cricket. We wanted them to be able to develop their cricket skills but above all, we wanted them to learn important life skills – like playing as a team – while having fun. The Gingins CC inaugural tour of The Netherlands ticked all the boxes. The exhausted smiles on all the boys’ faces as we touched down in Geneva told us what a success it had been.

For that we thank the Winckel family for their terrific idea and organization. We thank the Gingins Commune for their unending support of what we’re trying to do – we so hope to have our own field one day. We thank the parents who funded the whole adventure and who allowed their kids to come on the tour. We thank   Cricket Switzerland for their unending support to youth cricket in Switzerland – so ridiculous that they have been kicked out of ICC Europe, honestly, give me a break.

We thank our great sponsors. Firstly, the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Geneva whose support has allowed us to build two fantastic cricket nets and to buy a bowling machine that together have really helped build the kids’ skills. Secondly, our new sponsor INEOS who have supported us for the first time this year. INEOS’ support has allowed us to buy more equipment to keep the kids skill levels improving.

Finally, and above all, we thank the lads who played such terrific cricket over each and every match. The boys never failed to clap a batsman off, or to clap a new batsman on. They supported each other even when catches were dropped, when wides were bowled or when an innings was cut prematurely short. They moved quickly between overs, showing that they knew something about the game, they bowled and batted beautifully, they respected the opposition, the umpires and their hosts. They tucked their fantastic new GCC shirts in and REALLY looked like a cricket team; they looked like they belonged to a Club. We couldn’t have been more proud of them and for that, each and every one of them deserves a very special mention. Our team was:

• Ale Poynton
• Aidan Andrews
• Floris Winckel
• Alastair MacDiarmid
• Josh Thompson
• John Cumberland
• Simon Pearce
• Louis Osborne
• Will Robinson
• Max Miller
• Sam Honegger

Hail Gingins CC! Hail the U14 T20 Dutch National Champions!

See more photos in Photo Gallery

The GCC U15 team were:

Aidan – Captain
Jelle – Wicket Keeper
Will
Simon
James
Max
Devansh
Thomas (from Basel)

Aidan: It started with my best mate (Jelle) coming all the way from South Africa, to play cricket. It was fantastic because I hadn’t seen him for a while so I was really excited to catch up with him and all the other players. The bus trip was awesome. Well besides the fact that someone threw up in the bus after eating some amazing cake. That was probably not the best part, but we had to stop shortly after the little accident and it was snowing. We were high up in the mountains. Somewhere in the middle of nowhere and you guessed it. We had a snowball fight. It was so much fun!!
We arrived in the afternoon, after listening to every song I had on my iPod on repeat and it was quite cold! The training was cancelled so we stayed in our rooms for a bit. I shared a room with James, Jelle and of course my dad. “Thank goodness” said my sister, because after a long day of cricket we took our shoes off and relaxed. Apparently the room smelled bad!!

Max: Next morning we were most surprised by the snow which fell during the night! So, unlike last year where everyone was spreading some sun cream on themselves, this year we were getting our thermals on! Fortunately, the new GCC kit arrived just in time, including some fine looking shirts and extremely practical jumpers. Once the team got to the pitch, we were putting those jumpers to the test with a lowest temperature down to -2°C! The cold meant that when fielding, we couldn’t stop rubbing our hands. And what’s more is that the snow which fell made the pitch wet and therefore slippery and the ball became a chunk of soap. But the weather gradually got better and it got a bit warmer the next day.

Aidan: It was definitely the coldest weather conditions we had had compared to the other years but none the less we had a great time.

Max: So the first match was against the school ‘’Lyceum Alpinum’’ (starting at 9 o’clock). So after a good warm-up we did the toss-up, which we won, and decided to bowl first.

Aidan: Will and I opened the bowling, with Will ending with very good figures of 4 overs 10 runs for 1 wicket. The rest of us unfortunately were not as tight and went for 6+ per over with Simon and Max taking a wicket each. The school was much improved from previous years and they got 95 runs after 16 overs as we struggled to take wickets in the freezing conditions.

With only 16 overs to get the runs, we knew we had to get off to a decent start and Jelle and I opened the batting. Jelle unfortunately fell relatively early. Will came in next and we rotated the strike. The school’s captain (another Max) was fielding at short cover and it was difficult to make runs but with a retirement at 25, I smashed a six when I was on 23 and retired on 29. Will and Simon continued very well and made up the balance of the runs without losing their wicket (Will 16, Simon 12).

The school proved to be very competent fielders but leaked a number of wides helping us to the total. My sister thought that match was really interesting, and braved the cold to watch the boys, or the `hotties` as she called them, from the school!! We won that match by 5 wickets.

Max: Straight after that match we played against our rival Zurich and we batted first (we won the toss). They didn’t seem to be at their best (they didn’t have some of their best players) and we quickly established a high score! Aidan and Will retired, that’s 52 runs from them, with the possibility of coming back in!

Aidan: In came Jelle with a well played 21 and was unfortunately run out. Simon followed and was unlucky not to have made more as he was hitting the ball well. James came in and fired a good few shots. Then it was Max who got out for a duck. Thomas and Devansh came in and also went out cheaply but we managed a first innings total of 114.

Max: The victory of Gingins was near certain...
We felt that the total should easily be defended but we unfortunately battled to get their openers out. We started to let things slip and bowled too many wides, didn’t take the catches and the overthrows cost us dearly. The extras started getting fatal, the fielders were playing it too gently.

Aidan: Zurich managed to get the runs in the last over despite us taking Ruan`s wicket for a well played 21. It wasn’t enough to turn things around and unfortunately we lost the match.

Max: Once that match was finished the players all snuggled up in their coats and jumpers. Some of the parents retreated back to the hotel, while others, bravely encouraged the younger members of Gingins.

Aidan: After a great dinner and a good sleep we woke up to another chilly morning but that didn’t stop us from playing cricket.

The last match on Sunday was against Cossonay and we all decided it would be Max and Devansh to open the batting this time. It started off rather slowly with Devansh struggling to get the ball away and he was eventually bowled. Max had been collecting a couple of runs here and there and after 8 overs we were struggling on 26. Aidan came in and fired a quick 30 runs off 16 balls to get us back on track. He was followed by Will who went for a duck.
Simon joined Max at the crease and suddenly Max came alive and started smashing the ball all over the park. We even saw him with an aggressive baseball stance dispatching the ball to the boundary and retired on a very well played 25.

Simon kept the runs ticking over, smashing 12 off 14 and James was not out with 4. We finally managed to set a total in the 90s. Knowing we had lost the match before trying to defend 114 we knew had had to get our bowling in order.

Will and I once again opened the bowling and Will bowled superbly and restricted them but we were battling for wickets. On came Max to bowl and was a touch expensive but with a field change Will swallowed a catch off Max`s bowling which was the start of our come back. Simon bowled his best spell and continued to restrict and frustrate the batsmen. Jelle came on to take 2 wickets as they needed to up the run rate. Devansh fielded extremely well and committed himself to stopping each ball. We had pulled it off and beat Cossonay despite Jai retiring.

We had managed a well deserved second place behind Zurich and will be back next year to get our trophy back. A special thank you to Thomas from Basel and Jelle from South Africa who helped out.

Batting Pick
Aidan - 85 not out off 77 balls (batsman of the tournament)

Bowling Pick
Will - 12 overs 44/2 economy 3.67

May 25-26th 2013

This year’s tournament took place over two very cold days in Zuoz. It even snowed during the weekend!

The GCC U11 team were:

Alex Bucheli – Captain Leo Clairs Ricky Bucheli (U9)
Dylan Cleaveley – Vice Captain Archer Martin Charlie Martin (U9)
Mattia Sparacino – Wicket Keeper Gregor Wellard Charlie Whiting (U9)
Aidan Anderson Nick Whiting

Basel Dragons: The GCC U11s opened the tournament with a game against the difficult Basel Dragons. Basel opened the batting, and we did very well to keep their runs restricted for most of the innings. However, they did put up a decent total, and we could not make the runs required to win the match. The highlights of the match were Aidan’s caught and bowled (below) and Dylan’s two wickets.

(Photographs courtesy of Nigel Atkinson of Basel)

Zurich Crickets: The team’s second match was also against a tough team, the Zurich Crickets. The weather was still cold, and we got an early breakthrough off the bowling of Archer. However, the Zurich team were too strong and made lots of runs. We lost a couple of early wickets and couldn’t match their score.

Basel Nightfuries: After the initial hard first two matches, things became easier and we played our third match of the day against the Basel Nightfuries. We batted first and scored 105 for the loss of just 3 wickets, and when we bowled we restricted them to 52 for 5. What a nice way to end the first day with a win.

Les Ecoles: The first match of the second day was against another team from Suisse Romande, Les Ecoles, a team made from players from La Chat and CDL, and we had never played them before. We batted first and made 86-4, and restricted them to 52-5. It was good to get our second win of the tournament.

Zurich Locusts: Our last game was against the Zurich B team, the Zurich Locusts. They had lots of younger players, so our U9s also got chances to play in this match. We won this match quite easily.

We finished the tournament in third place behind Zurich Crickets and Basel Dragons. Gregor won the ’Best Fielder’ Award of the U11 tournament – well done to him! All the players played well, and we had a very good time as a team.

Hopefully next year it will be warmer and we can perform better.

March 24th 2013: La Châtaigneraie - Gingins v Cossonay

The U15s got up on a cold, wet Saturday morning and got ready for what lay in front of them today. The players today were Ale, Vince, Floris, Devansh, Aiden Archer, Kieran Wilson, Max and Simon.

Everyone arrived 30 minutes before the game and we commenced training. Soon enough the game had started and we were bowling. Their two openers, Daniel and Greg, came out to bat against the opening bowlers, Ale and Floris. Soon enough, Ale had Greg caught behind by Simon for 7. The captain Arnuv came out and immediately got off the mark by hitting 1 run to the wall. Unfortunately for him, the next ball, he was bowled by Ale. So Gingins had Cossonay at 20 runs for two wickets off only six overs.

The bowling and fielding was tight for the next six overs but our bowlers couldn’t get Basel’s Tom or Daniel, the opener, out. Then Max came on to bowl and bowled a shocker of a ball, bouncing three times and going down leg but Tom hit it straight up and was caught by Vince at square leg. Louis came on to bat and started scoring some quick runs but 5 overs later he was bowled by Ale who seemed to be having a good day with the ball.

Gingins now had Cossonay at 82 for 4 with 23 overs remaining. Next in was Ian. With one run away from retiring, Floris got the opening batsmen, Daniel, out for 39. This meant that Alex was to come in. Not too long after, Devansh got Ian out for 5 caught by Simon at mid-on. There was one wicket remaining, and Cossonay had 126 runs. Surely this wouldn’t be enough to win the game. Unfortunately, the last pair kept their ground until they reached a score of 185 runs when Alex smacked a ball of Simon’s bowling to Ale at mid-off and was caught.

Finally after 32 overs, Gingins had got Cossonay out for 185.

Gingins had forty overs to chase their target. As Aidan Andrews was playing in a Colts game today, Ale opened the batting with Floris and they got off to a terrific start.

Ale retired at 41 off 28 balls having hit one 6 and three 4s as well as a ton of runs off the wall and by running between the wickets. Simon came in at number three and got caught off Greg’s bowling on 0 off 2 balls. 10 balls later, Floris retired at 41, thus bringing Gingins total to around 100. Vince and Devansh were in.
 
Vince was in for a while and managed to get a few runs off the back wall before getting bowled by Ian on 18.
Gingins now were 118 for 4 off 19 overs. Devansh quickly got run out when batting with Max for only two runs. Kieran lasted four balls before getting caught by Greg off Alex’s bowling for only two runs. Max was in for a long 35 balls but unfortunately only got two runs.
Aiden Archer was in and Ale came back in at the fall of Max’s wicket. Gingins needed 39 runs off 13 overs with 2 wickets to spare. It looked like it was going to be a tight game. Ale and Aiden started blasting the ball around as if it was the contest of who could hit the ball the hardest.

Aiden made thirteen before handing the strike back over to Ale who hit 4 fours off 5 balls to win the game for Gingins! Great game and well played everyone. The spirit was great as well. Everyone did well in the field. Some need to work on their batting and bowling though. See you all next time.

U15 Statistics in teamsnap

To the GCC U11 Cricket Team,

I hope those of you who played at the Basel Indoor Tournament last week have recovered! It was a brilliant weekend of cricket and you all played so well. You should feel very proud of your efforts. Each one of you contributed something special during the weekend. It is amazing to see the improvement that you are making as individual cricketers and as a team. I am certain that the improvement is going to continue and we are going to have a great time at Zuoz.

I thought it might be useful to try and capture some of your highlights from Basel. I am sure to have left some great things out, so please feel free to share with the group if you would like to add some points.

The main overall highlight for me was the way you played together as a team. You all supported each other, encouraged each other, backed each other up in the field and congratulated each other. You also played the game in a good spirit, respecting the opposition teams and the umpires. It was great to see you getting to know some of the boys in the other teams and even watching their games. I was very proud of all of you.

I was also very impressed with your leadership when you had a chance to be captain. You all took the responsibility seriously, thought about the job and made a big effort to motivate the team and get the best out of your team mates. This was the first time that junior members of the team – Mattia and Gregor – have had a chance to be captain and they did a fantastic job.

OK, some of your individual highlights and improvements:

Alex

Highlights

Scoring 24 against Geneva in a great display that ended with a 6 to retire!
After the disappointment of spilling a caught and bowled opportunity against Zurich Crickets, the next ball Alex came in and took a wicket. It was a great way to respond and showed his fight and determination

Improvement

Continued improvement in all areas of the game – steady batting (scoring 50 runs for the tournament), good fielding and outstanding team leadership. I would particularly mention Alex’s bowling which was tight and disciplined. Alex ending up as our highest wicket taker (7 wickets for the tournament)

Archer

Highlights

I suspect Archer would count his 7 sixes as highlights!
I would say his innings of 20 (retired) against Zurich Crickets was the best batting we had in the whole tournament. The Zurich bowlers were bowling very well and there were very few loose balls. Archer batted with excellent technique and concentration – and even hit two sixes in this innings!

Improvement

Archer’s batting throughout the tournament was top quality. He scored 114 runs and was only out twice. Archer has improved to be one of the best batters at the U11 level in Switzerland

Dylan

Highlights

Dylan’s innings against Basel Dragons was a highlight. Opening the batting against top quality bowling, his score of 16 helped put us in a great position of 0 for 30 after 5 overs (unfortunately we did not build on this start and ended up 5/52 after 12 overs)
Dylan’s innings against Geneva was also a highlight. He retired after his second 6 took him to 21 and then came back in at the end of the innings to make our highest score of the tournament – 26

Improvement

Without a doubt, the improvement in Dylan’s batting was the find of the tournament! He made 77 runs (our second top score) and was only out 3 times. Congratulations Dylan – you can consider yourself an outstanding opening batter.

Gregor

Highlights

Gregor hit a great 6 against Zurich Locusts, in an unbeaten score of 10
The catch Gregor took off the wall in the small hall was unbelievable! The previous evening a player was awarded a prize for a catch off the wall. Gregor deserved a prize for this too!

Improvement

The overall improvement in Gregor’s batting was tremendous. He scored important runs for us, especially in the lower order. Gregor batted out the last 2 overs as “last man standing” against Basel Dragons, getting the team’s score above 50 with intelligent shots and great running between the wickets.

Leo

Highlights

Seeing the middle stump pegged back after bowling one of Luxembourg’s top batters in the first game will no doubt stay with Leo for a long time
The instinctive catch taken low to the ground just forward of square leg in the small hall against Basel Nightfuries was one of the catches of the tournament

Improvement

The improvement in Leo’s bowling was outstanding. He has established himself as one of the team’s top strike bowlers. The reduction in the number of wides Leo bowled was a great improvement. Before the tournament he was bowling almost 2 wides per over. In Basel he averaged only 0.6 wides per over.

Mattia

Highlights

Mattia’s stumping was an excellent piece of cricket and demonstrated how comfortable he is becoming behind the stumps
Mattia also took a couple of great catches as wicket-keeper, including one that bounced off the back wall!

Improvement

While Mattia’s wicket-keeping continues to improve and his batting was more consistent than at the Gingins Indoor Tournament , it is actually his bowling that deserves to be mentioned. He bowled 3 overs and only conceded 2 wides, with a much straighter arm and delivering the ball off the correct foot. Great stuff.

Ricky

Highlights

The wicket against Basel Nightfuries was definitely a highlight!
Ricky’s fielding behind square-leg in the small hall was outstanding and he saved a number of runs by paying attention all the time and showing great anticipation

Improvement

Just coming along and getting 3 games was fantastic! Well done Ricky for showing such commitment and enthusiasm!

Congratulations once again. Please keep practicing and playing as much cricket as you can. The outdoor training season starts on 14 April and we need to be ready for Zuoz. If we keep the bowling and fielding as tight as we did at Basel we will do well. We can continue to improve our batting technique, especially in facing balls that are on the stumps – we should aim not to have anyone out bowled at Zuoz! There will also be more need to run between the wickets at Zuoz, so we can work on our backing up, calling and running between the wickets.

Finally, thanks to Andy for scoring, Simon for umpiring and coaching, Katie for making sure batters were ready and all the parents for supporting.

Best,

Tim
Gingins CC U11 Coach

March 2^nd- 3^rd 2013: U15 Indoor Swiss Tournament - Basel

The U15 team made a long, early morning journey to Basel to play a 5-sided tournament. Most of us had arrived by train except for some of us by car. The teams were; Basel, as hosts, Gingins, Luxembourg, Cossonay and Zurich.

We all knew that the pressure was on, as Luxembourg had won the previous indoor tournament and it was time to show Gingins’ capability. We were all set to grab the trophy.

Our first game was at 1p.m., so I am not sure about the first 2 games. When we came out to face Basel for our first match, we were nervous but exhilarated. Since we were a player short; we had to borrow an U13 player, Mustafa Hussein from Basel. The first innings started and we were fielding first. We got Callum Wright for a duck. We were ecstatic. Although Floris was sick, he had picked up an important wicket at the right time. Simon took a good catch at point.

Basel’s 2 best batsmen, Ruwan and Neil were on the pitch and were unstoppable as they continued scoring runs. Ruwan retired after scoring a quick 25. Max chipped in with 2 wickets. We slowed the run rate as Devansh and Max bowled some good spells to Neil, who was constantly getting troubled to play some off spin.

Neil hit his last ball for a six and then retired. Devansh then got the wicket of Stuart, who was caught by the extra player, Mustafa. Basel managed to make a total of 96 in 15 overs. Our openers managed to put some precious, quick runs for us, until they both got out. The pressure was on Ale and Simon. Ale scored some good boundaries but got out to Callum. Simon was then run out for 10. Will was cleaned bowled by a yorker from Callum on his first ball. Devansh was pretty nervous as the run rate was getting higher.

Max was scoring singles and doubles at a constant rate which kept our hopes up. Ruwan had Max bowled. We needed about 7 runs of the last over. Unfortunately, Devansh got run-out of the third ball and the match was won by Basel. Will had injured his finger while wicket keeping in the first innings.

Our second game was against Cossonay. Cossonay had won the toss and were fielding first. Aidan and Floris led to a good start but got out. Cossonay chipped in with some wickets of Simon and Max.

Ale was very fluent in his innings of 25. He had scored some good sixes and fours. Will was out for a platinum duck! We just couldn’t believe it.

Callum was our 8^th player for this game. Callum and I had to put up a good partnership to lead Gingins to a respectable total. Haphazardly, I got run out. Ale had to come in and he scored a boundary and with some precious extras, we got to a competitive total. Cossonay had to score 90 to win.

Ale got Tom in the second over and then Simon got Arnav. We had to continue picking wickets to win this game. Devansh took Greg’s wicket and he was on top of the moon. Simon came back with another wicket. Devansh then got the last 2 wickets to bowl out Cossonay for a mere 40. We knew that we had won this game by a good margin.

We looked forward to the second day of the tournament, which was at a new venue. Our first game was against Luxembourg. We knew that they were a strong team and we had to beat them to stand a chance of winning the tournament. Luxembourg had won the toss and elected to field first. We had to make a good total to increase our net run rate.

Aidan had started of the innings at slow but steady pace. Floris was given caught behind the second ball. Once again the match depended on Ale and Aidan.

Aidan and Ale were scoring runs with the help of wides and no-balls. Ale had hit 3 consecutive boundaries and then was given out stumped. On the other hand, Aidan had retired for a brisk 25. Simon was also in-form and scored quick runs to add on the total. Will and Simon were unbeaten and Gingins had made the highest total of the tournament, 119 in 15 overs. Luxembourg opening pair was strong and had put up a good partnership. Devansh broke the partnership and got the wicket of Theo. The next ball Devansh got the wicket of Luca. Devansh was overwhelmed. Luxembourg was very close, because of the extras we had bowled. We knew that we now stood a chance of winning the tournament. It was an easy win against Luxembourg. Now, we had won 2 out of our 3 games.

The last match of the tournament was against Zurich. We had to reverse the batting order for this game. We won the toss and elected to bat first-very unlikely of Ale. Max and Devansh had to give Gingins a strong start. The only way we could win this tournament, was to get a huge total. We didn’t get many runs of the first 2 overs, but we knew we had to play some good shots. Max got out early having caught behind. Zurich then came back strongly with 2 wickets of Will and Devansh. Ale and Simon played some attractive strokes until they both retired. Aidan also contributed with some good shots to finish the innings. We realised that we had piled up a total of 123. We had to bowl very well to win this game. Will opened the bowling department with Max. Surprisingly, Will got a wicket in his first over.

We knew we were on the way to victory.

Simon took a wicket to slow down Zurich’s progress in the game. Devansh then took the wickets of James and Dalibor to thrash Zurich and win the tournament.

Ruwan received the Batsman of the Tournament and Arnav received the Bowler of the Tournament.

Final Positions

1. Gingins
2. Basel
3. Cossonay
4. Luxembourg
5. Zurich

Finds of the tournament

• Ale, Aidan and Simon scoring most runs
• Floris, Ale and Devansh having a bowling economy of 3.57, 4.2 and 4.25
• Devansh taking 8 wickets
• Aidan getting 4 stumpings

Statistics

Recently, Gingins held an U13 cricket tournament at the La Chat International School. They played against Zurich, Basle and a CDL/La Chat side. They lost to all three teams. I have asked Rohan Jain, the U13 captain of the side about the occasion and why his team lost all their games. I am also going to ask him what the team needs to improve for next time if they want to win a game.

Why do you think that the team was so confident?
The team was very confident because they had beaten teams like CDL and Zurich in the past and they believed they could do it again, easily. Last time we played against CDL, we thrashed them and the team thought that it would be easy so they played as if it didn’t matter and we ended up losing. The team thought the tournament would be a run-through.

Was this the main reason for the team’s three defeats?
Yes and no. Yes the team was over confident but because of that there was a lack of commitment. The ball would be hit at a player and they wouldn’t make an effort to stop it. Some of the members of the team were eating sugar cubes before matches and were having 5 minute sugar rushes before having no energy to do anything. Some players would go and play on their iPods after getting out instead of watching their teammates play.

Why did you lose so heavily to Zurich?
The players were tired and didn’t have enough rest. If an important batsman got out then the whole team would collapse

What do you think the team needs to learn for next time?
They need to learn how to dedicate themselves to the game. Not to stuff their faces or play videogames before, during or after the games and to control their confidence levels

What technical training do you think the team needs?
Obviously nobody is perfect when it comes to batting, bowling or fielding but after that tournament we need to also practice the way we use tactics. But I really think we would be a better team if the dedication to fielding was 100% and not 50% because the team has high potential but they are not dedicating themselves to enough training so every day, each player should get a ball and get one of their parents to chuck it at them for 10 minutes and then, we will be able to be the best again.

Thank you Ro for your answers and good luck at your next tournament.