Many years ago, it was decided that the development of our young cricketers would be enhanced by building up a winter season programme to allow their skills to develop as much as possible. This process has grown steadily and successfully and continues to create outstanding achievements worthy of recognition. During this last winter the following has been achieved:-
- Each Sunday, three separate groups of young cricketers train and play at the excellent facilities of the International School of Luxembourg. The total number of regularly playing young members now exceeds 90 and this winter has seen the creation of the first girls group thanks to the support of the Optimists Maidens. Ben Embleton’s work in local schools is creating a steady flow of newcomers to the sport that have become full members which is great to see.
- As part of the training process, there are many skills learned but playing matches is also a key element so each winter, we organise our own indoor leagues. In the U13s group, this year’s winners were the team named the Cricket Rivals captained by Shub Pradhan. His team came second in the league but won the play-off final against the Punishers captained by Robert Walker. One of the rules of this league is that the captains are always players who have never captained before in order to gain the additional skills and experience that this special role requires. So congratulations to all the captains for a great first effort.
- Part of the development process also involves entering indoor tournaments in other countries and this year proved very successful also. In November, an U11s and U13s team set off to Geneva to play in the annual ‘Gingins Tournament’. This is a superbly run event but we have never managed to win anything until this year. Our U13s triumphed this year winning all of their games and the U11s were unlucky to miss their final on the ‘net run rate rule’. Nevertheless, our teams won 9 of their 10 games which is an amazing achievement. You can read the full write up here http://www.wort.lu/en/view/luxembourg-wins-another-trophy-in-switzerland-50b4d422e4b0dc282c97720a
- In early March, an inexperienced U15s side entered a tournament in Basle and despite some fine individual performances and a win against Zurich, the team were unable to collect a trophy but will certainly have learned more about match tactics.
- Also in March, we entered another tournament in Basle. The U13s were defending champions but had to fight hard to retain their title with tough early matches but managed to secure 4 wins from 4 and collect the trophy once again. The demolition of hosts Basle in the final will be remembered for some time to come. Again the U11s were unlucky and finished 3rd out of 7 teams but it was a great experience for this young side led by Scott Fedderson. Full report here http://www.wort.lu/en/view/junior-cricketers-make-it-a-hat-trick-in-switzerland-5151d473e4b0bd54e4d1c62b
- Throughout the winter, our ‘Senior Juniors’ aged around 16 and 17 have been training each week also. This also involved a series of Challenge Matches against volunteer adults including several Optimists 1st XI players. But this group of youngsters showed no mercy and won the Challenge Series 3 games to 1 mainly due to totally superior fielding skills. However, this was merely practice for their main challenge of retaining their U17s title won at the Zurich tournament last year. Happily, this was achieved with an unbeaten run and the full details can be reviewed here http://www.wort.lu/en/view/u17s-cricketers-retain-title-in-zurich-5153250de4b0bd54e4d1c841
In summary, it has been a fantastically successful winter season at all age groups for Luxembourg’s young cricketers which is a very promising sign for the upcoming summer and the entire future of Optimists Cricket Club. It has to be said that none of this would happen without the never-ending help of volunteer coaches, Dads and Mums so thank you to everyone for all your support. In addition, this success is built upon the foundations laid by the Luxembourg Cricket Federation, the support of the Adults within the Optimists Club and the financial support received from the Walferdange Commune.