Optimists Cricket Club

In March, Luxembourg’s U13s entered a four team indoor cricket tournament in Zurich against some tough Swiss opposition. This was the first time the youngsters had entered into such an event for this age group and therefore the Twenty over format was considered to be quite a challenge.

Perhaps unsurprisingly due to the effort of the players, the team performed very well achieving two wins out of three in fine style. In the first game against the hosts, Luxembourg elected to field first to settle their nerves and fine bowling supported by sharp fielding restricted the opposition to 102 for six. In reply, a steady start was needed and ably provided by the opening pair with William Cope steering the team home with 41 not out and 6 overs to spare.

The second opposition, Swiss Wanderers, were a combined team of excellent players and having lost the toss, Luxembourg needed to set a competitive target. However, a mix up in the first over led to a run out and then it was an uphill struggle to rebuild the innings. A patient process of accumulating runs was achieved with good contributions from all to set a total of 102 and thus gaining a vital batting bonus point. But such a total was always going to be hard to defend and despite excellent bowling from Girish Vyas and Marcus Cope, the Wanderers prevailed with just 2 overs to spare.

This meant Luxembourg lay in second place with one game to go so they needed to gain maximum points from their final match against Gingins. A team decision to reorganise the batting order and seek to set a strong total led Andrew Fry and Thomas Martin to open the batting the next morning. The two set a great platform further extended by superb hitting from Sebastiaan van Gilst and especially Puneet Vyas who hit 38 not out including two big sixes in the final over. This teamwork set a total of 149 for 3 which was the best score of any team in the tournament and was always going to be tough for Gingins to chase down. With great energy in the field led by Christopher Fry and accurate bowling from all, this target was well beyond the opposition. But Luxembourg had to fight to gain the extra bowling bonus point right up until the final over when a flurry of wickets finally came. This fine victory by a margin of 83 runs put Luxembourg back on top of the table but they had to agonisingly watch as the Swiss Wanderers overcame Zurich to regain top spot in the last match.

But Luxembourg’s young cricketers left Zurich with 2nd place, a whole set of new cricket friends and the tournament awards for best wicket keeper and also the most promising player given to Marcus Cope. To further build on this talented pool, Luxembourg will be playing for the first time this summer in the U15s Belgian League with competitive fixtures both home and away thanks to the continued support of the Luxembourg Cricket Federation.