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Tournament Report from Brett Barclay

Vienna World Cup – 2008

 Another memorable tournament has come to a conclusion, with the perennial tryers Holland finally winning their first cup after five attempts. They posted 140 batting first in the semis against a spirited Austrian team, and 120 in the final against the Pakistani team. Both games were very close, perhaps too close for Holland’s liking, but in the end, the best team won on the day!

 This was an outstanding reversal of form considering Holland didn’t actually qualify for the semi finals. Munich who were second in pool B had to withdraw due to clashing travel arrangements, gifting Holland a “second chance”, which they majestically grabbed hold of with both hands.

 Teams:

 This year eleven teams competed for the cup. There were two pools, the first comprising of Austria, Germany, India White, Wales, Hungary and Denmark. The second pool had the favorites Pakistan, with Munich, England, Holland and India Blue.

 Results:

 In pool A, Austria were undefeated in the five matches, with Wales progressing as the second qualifier. The star for Austria was undoubtedly Surath, who along with Manni set up several easy wins in the pool play.

 Wales top batter was Mark Summer ford, who in one game managed the second highest score of the tournament with 72 off 29 balls.

 Pool B was quite a tight pool. Pakistan qualified undefeated, with Munich sneaking through with a solid win over Holland. They then forfeited their spot in favor of Holland, who amazingly went on to win.

  Highlights:

 For me, there were several incredible moments within the tournament, ranging from outstanding bowling spells, magnificent catches, outstanding batting performances or just brilliant games.

 I saw several catches which could arguably be regarded as the best. For me the best catch went to Usman from the Pakistan team. He took a brilliant catch on the boundary in the semifinal against Wales, not only saving six runs, but removing one of the danger men too.

 Bowling wise – Mark Palfrey of Munich took 4-18 in two overs against Pakistan, almost leading to an unexpected result.

 Best game; had to be the semifinal between Holland and Austria, in which Holland only just prevailed with a score of 140 off 8 overs. Austria fell only a few runs short, with Austrian opening batsman Abbas, scoring an unbelievable 99 not out. This knock for me was undoubtedly the most amazing performance which I have seen in 20+ years of cricket. In total, about 275 runs were scored in this game!

 The Welsh team was also a highlight for me, with their outstanding spirit. They were an absolute pleasure to be around. Most teams would agree that they really added something special to this tournament.

Other Points:

There were a couple of sour moments in the heat of battle, but otherwise it is fair to say that everyone enjoyed themselves, and I personally as tournament manager I had a wonderful time.

There will be a couple of changes to next year’s format. Potentially  bigger and better. There will be some rule changes to make up for some unintended failings, and there will be a bigger support team of umpires, scorers and ground staff.

Lastly, I would like to thank all those who participated, and of course those who really worked hard to ensure that this tournament was the success that it was. I especially would like to thank the senior and junior players of Austria Cricket Club WIEN who donated so much time to umpiring, scoring and of course looking for lost balls. You guys did a tremendous job. Special thanks to Craig, Andrew, John, Shivam, Christoff, Fiaz and Shoaib.

Also special thanks to Siva Nadarajah, Walter Blaschke, Helga Nadarajah, Helga Zant, Our Grounds man Vladan, and the other support crew.

 Bring on 2009!

Cheers

Brett

Registred Teams and players:

Name of the Team:     Hungary                                  

Captain Name:             Andrew Leckonby

Manager Name:          Stephen Anthony

Name of the Team:     Wales

Captain Name:             Timothy Abraham

Manager Name:          Timothy Abraham

Name of the Team:     Germany

Captain Name:             

Manager Name:          Wolfgang Albert

Name of the Team:     Austria

Captain Name:     Surath Liyanage         

Manager Name:   Brett Barclay

Name of the Team:     England

Captain Name:     Craig Robson         

Manager Name:   Andrew Jordan