Geneva XI Stars CC are the SCA League Champions-2012

11 September 2012

On what was probably the best day in terms of weather this summer, the biggest annual event of Swiss Cricket, the Swiss Cricket Association League finals was played at En Marche in Cossonay. The match was played between two of the most consistently performing teams in the Swiss League this year and both desperate to win after losing the finals previous two years. Geneva XI Stars CC and Olten CC topped their divisions and won the semi finals continuing their consistency in the SCA League. Even before the match started both teams knew that the team holding the nerve will take back the trophy in the evening.

Olten CC won the toss and elected to field first on a newly relaid Notts wicket. Geneva XI Stars opened with Ovais Yousuf and Waleed Saleem. Olten CC opening bowlers stuck to their lines and were ably supported by their excellent fielding and the wicket which aided swing bowling. Ovais appeared to break the shackles by cover driving two boundaries before flashing outside off stump and was caught stunningly by by Ali Neyyer who took a one hand diving catch to his right at a fly slip . This catch was the first of stunning catches that highlighted the day and one of the reason for a low scoring affair. The wicket of Ovais, brought in Raja Hafeez who tried to play attacking strokes but was caught at point of the bowling of Ali Neyyer. At this point the score was 15/2 and the XI Stars were in trouble. Waleed Saleem was solid as usual on one and with Asvin Lakkaraju started building the innings. Both players played the moving new ball cautiously and Asvin started to open up will a pull over mid wicket of Ali Neyyer. In the following over by the Murali (Well known as Malinga of Switzerland for his slinging action), Asvin was adjudged caught behind with the team score on 50. This was followed by quick wicket of Muhammad Ali who was bowled through the gate by a sharp in swinger. This brought in Ali Saleem who along with his brother set up to build a partnership. The partnership was cut short by a run out, when Waleed who was playing well till then and held up one end, was unfortunately caught short of the crease attempting a quick single. The scoreboard read 60/5 at this point. To get any sort of fighting score XI Stars now needed a special innings from someone against a very good bowling attack and a brilliant fielding unit. The special innings did come in the form of Ali Saleem. He set himself in and played some special shots which included 4 huge sixes and 3 of them coming against his Swiss teammate Afzaal. None of the other batsmen could  stay long enough and support Ali. The last wicket partnership of 26 runs between Ali and Asad took the team to team score to 134. This partnership proved to be crucial in the final analysis. Ali Saleem remained not out on a classy 43. An innings to remember specially as it was played under such a pressure.

After the lunch break Geneva XI Stars knew they had to do something special to win this game. XI Stars opened bowling with Ali Saleem and Asad. Both the bowlers bowled brilliantly with the new ball which was swinging on a newly relaid Cossonay surface. The swinging ball started raising doubts in the minds of Olten batsmen and they decided that the best recourse was to attack the bowlers. The swinging ball proved too much for the Olten openers as both of them were bowled by big in swingers from Ali Saleem. Murali was then out lbw playing across the line to Ali Saleem leaving Olten at 15/3 in 7 overs. This brought in the experienced pair of Raja Jacob and Afzaal to the crease. Both players tried to set themselves in and played risk free cricket. On the bowling front Ovais came into bowl and was bowling with tremendous pace and extracting lot of swing and bounce from the wicket. The Olten batsmen had a real hard time trying to get the bat on ball. At this point Afzaal decided to play aggressively and was walking down the wicket in an attempt to nullify the swing. He was successful as he could disrupt the line of players started scoring freely and quickly moved to 22 before he missed a ball fro Ovais which took his middle stump. This brought in Ali Neyyer who was Oltens hero in the semi finals. He did not last long as he was caught brilliantly in the first slip by Asvin who dived to his right and took a low catch of the bowling of Ovais. This was first of the four stunning catches by XI Stars on this day. The scoreboard read 52/5 and Olten were in big trouble. Ryan Pitchford was the next to walk in and along with Raja Jacob was playing beautifully at the other end started taking singles mixed with occasional big shot took the scoreboard to 82/5  at the drinks break. After the drinks break both batsman changed gears and in a matter of 2 overs 3 huges sixes were hit and Olten crossed the 100 mark and with only 35 runs to get they looked all comfortable marching towards victory. What followed was an unbeleivable collapse. At 104/5, Raja Jacob slashed a ball outside the off stump of Ovais and the ball was flying over first slip when skipper Raja Hafeez put his hand and the ball hit the hand and lobbed up which taken at second attempt. Another stunning catch!!! Raja Jacob made a very good 40 before he was out. At 104/6 XI Stars knew that they need more wickets and quickly. Ryan decided to have a go at Asad Shahs bowling in order to relieve the pressure and in the process skied a ball to long on. Ovais came running in from long on and dived to take another superb catch. The game has truly turned at this point and XI Stars were well on top with only 3 more wickets to get. Ovais then came to bowl his last over with a crowded slip cordon and all the 10 players saving singles. The pressure yielded and the Olten CC skipper Sheeraz nicked the first ball which was a beautiful outswinger and Kuldeep Rawat took a beauty diving in front of the first slip. The fourth stunning catch of the innings!!! The next two balls were somehow defended by the next batsman but the fourth ball of the over was an absolute jaffa, pitching on the middle stump and taking the off stump out. The batsman had no clue!!! The last man was in and pressure was too much for him to take. He was out to the last ball of the over, another outswinger this time on the middle and leg and hitting the offstump. The ball hit the back pad and the batsman was plumb. As soon as the umpires finger went up, joy erupted among the players and supporters of Geneva XI Stars CC. A truly incredible victory based on wonderful batting performance of Ali Saleem under lot of pressure, followed by outstanding bowling performance by Ali and Ovais which was ably supported by some stunning catches by the fielders. 

Overall a brilliant game which no team deserved to loose!!!

The SCA League trophy was presented by Mr. Alex Macay, President of SCA to the skipper of XI Stars:Raja Hafeez

Man of the Match award was presented by umpire Mr.Imtiaz Ahmed to Ali Saleem for a fantastic all round performance.

Scorecard: Click Here

Geneva XI Stars CC are SCA League Champions-2012

09 September 2012

Geneva XI Stars were today crowned the SCA League champions after they defeated Olten CC in a thrilling low scoring game. Batting first Geneva XI Stars scored 134 all out in 32.4 overs. Ali Saleem top scored with 43 not out. What followed afterwards was a sesational display of catching which led to a collapse of Olten CC. Olten CC were dismissed for 107 all out in 30 overs. Ovais YOusuf bowled magnificiently for his 6-25 and Ali Saleem bowled beautifully for 3-32.

Detailed Match report to follow soon....

Scorecard: Click Here

Semi Final coverage by Lancy TV

5 September 2012

Geneva XI Stars march into the final after defeating Royal Zurich.

04 September 2012- Ali Saleem

Geneva XI Stars played Royal Zurich CC in the second semi-final of the Swiss league at Onex in a close and hard fought contest.

Winning the toss, Royal’s captain put the XI Stars in to bat first. Openers Ovais Yousuf and Waleed Saleem saw the shine off the new ball well and were going along nicely, before Ovais holed out to square leg for 29. The XI Stars then lost another three wickets quickly and the Stars went from being 49-0 to 84-4. It was then left to Kuldeep Rawat and Asvin Lakkaraju to bring some stability to the innings. They both played very maturely and seldom took any risks in their 62 run partnership. Asvin rotated the strike well and dispatched the odd bad ball to the boundary and Kuldeep hit some strong shots in his knock. With the score on 146, Asvin was adjudged LBW for 34, which left a slight opening for Royal Zurich. Kuldeep made sure that this didn’t happen as he kept counter-attacking from the other end, and with the help of Munir Barone and Shahab Ullah, who both played vital knocks, pushed the score to over 200. He was dismissed for 78 trying to give a boost to the run rate, but by then he had made sure that the team reached a safe and defendable total of 239. Shahab then opened his arms in the last couple of balls of the match and helped the XI Stars total to 252 at the completion of the first innings.

The Stars knew that this score was a par score on the Onex ground and that they would have to bowl and field well in order to win the match. Munir Barone and Ali Saleem opened the bowling for the XI Stars, but their threat was well dealt with by the Royal openers. Knowing that he would need wickets to win the match, Raja Hafeez brought himself into the attack in the fifth over of the chase and straight away the combination of “caught Ali Saleem bowled Raja Hafeez” was put into the scorebook twice in the same over.  Bilal and Qaiser then started rebuilding the innings for Royal. The experienced Neelesh Kulkarni was then introduced into the attack and he got rid of the dangerous looking Bilal straight away. Muhammad Ali then took the wicket of Qaiser soon after and the Royal side looked to be in trouble at this point in time. The XI Stars kept the pressure on the opposition and Royal Zurich lost another two wickets without much contribution from the batsmen, as Neelesh claimed another victim and Shahab Ullah added his name to the wickets column. Shehzad Syed then found a willing partner in Royal Zurich skipper, Ali Khwaja and the pair, helped by the profuse amount of wides and the somewhat ordinary fielding, brought the Zurich team back into the chase. Ovais Yousuf was then brought into the attack and he bowled accurately to put the batsmen under pressure. With the required rate climbing, Shehzad Syed played a rash stroke straight down backward square leg’s throat for a well played knock of 52, where Ruben took a very well judged catch off Ovais’ bowling. With the set batsman gone, the pressure was now on the Royal’s skipper to see his team through. Ovais accounted for another wicket at the other end, with Asad Shah taking a good catch at the midwicket boundary and then an accurate throw from Asvin Lakkaraju from short third man towards the bowler’s end found Khwaja short of his crease. With 9 wickets down, the match seemed all but over. However, there was a last minute twist in the tale, as the last pair from Royal Zurich opened their arms and started dispatching the ball to all parts of the ground. Suddenly what looked like an easy win when the 9^th wicket went down became a much closer affair. Raja Hafeez took it upon himself to bowl the second-last over of the match, with Royal requiring 21 runs for the win and with two batsmen who were striking the ball well in the middle. The tension was high amongst both camps, but Raja Hafeez kept his nerve and lured the batsman out of his crease. Kuldeep, who had a good match behind the stumps with two catches, effected the stumping and the XI Stars took the victory by 20 runs.

The win means that the XI Stars qualify for the Swiss league final for the second year running. However, they are aware that in order to win the final, they would need to improve on their fielding and bowling performances. Too many extras were given away to the Royal Zurich team, which made the match a much closer contest than it should’ve been.

Scorecard: Click Here

Geneva XI Stars CC in the finals of SCA League-2012

02 September 2012

Geneva XI Stars CC defeated Royal Zurich CC in a tightly contested semi finals at Onex on 2 September. Batting first Geneva XI Stars made 252/7 in allocated 40 overs. Kuldeep Rawat played an excellent innnings of 71. Royal Zurich CC chasing a stiff score kept up with the run rate but lost wickets at crucial times and ended up 232 all out in 38.3 overs.

Geneva XI Stars CC will now face Olten CC, who defeated Berne CC in the second semi finals played at Hagendorf, in 2012 edition of SCA League finals.

Complete Match report and Scorecard will follow soon....

Geneva XI Stars CC face Royal Zurich CC in the SCA League semifinals-2012

12 August 2012

Geneva XI Stars CC will face Royal Zurich CC in the first of the semi finals scheduled for 2 of September. The game will be played at the home grounds of Geneva XI Stars owing to their coming first in the western division league. The match umpires are Mr. Imtiaz and Mr.Shehzad, both from Cern CC. In the second semifinals scheduled to be played on the same day, Oltenn CC will take on bern CC at Olten. We request all the supporters and cricket enthusiasts to come and enjoy the game at Onex.

Good training match for Geneva XI Stars CC

1 August 2012

Most of the members of Geneva XI Stars CC were involed in T20 training match between the Swiss Team and Rest of Switzerland played at the Cossonay cricket ground on 1 of August, also the Swiss National Day. The game was a training match for the Swiss team which will be touring UK at the end of the month. 3 members of Geneva XI Stars CC: Ali Saleem, Ovais Yousuf and Asvin Lakkaraju will be part of the Swiss Team touring UK. The training match was won by Swiss Team which convincingly beat the Rest of Switzerland team. Members of Geneva XI Stars CC who were part of Rest of Switzerland team: Raja Hafeez (c), Shahabullah, Kuldeep Rawat, Waleed Saleem, Asad Shah, Vithurasan.

A good game of cricket and more importantly for Geneva XI Stars CC a good practice session.

Geneva XI Stars CC qualify into SCA league semifinals for the fourth consecutive year

29 July 2012

Geneva XI Stars CC became the first team to qualify for the SCA league semfinals for the year 2012 after Swiss Colts forfeited their league game against Geneva XI Stars scheduled to be played at Onex on 29 July. Geneva XI Stars will now have to wait until 12 of August to see who they play against in the semi finals which is scheduled for 2 of September at Onex in Geneva.

Geneva XI Stars defeat Uprising CC in the league game by 155 runs

23 July 2012

Geneva XI Stars CC faced Uprising CC at Vernier on a windy Sunday afternoon for a crucial league match. The match assumed all the more importance because of the defeat at the hands of same opposition previous day in a T20 game. Everyone from both the teams seemed surprised at the wicket as the groundsman has accidentally dropped lot more material that is used to keep the wicket intact. Both teams knew that the wicket would be very difficult to bat and both teams hoped that they would win the toss and bowl first with a hope that the wicket would settle down later in the afternoon. Uprising CC won the toss and decided to field first, an obvious choice. XI stars knew they had a tough task ahead and started their batting with Asvin and Waleed. Both of them batted well against a new ball which was exploding from the surface reminding of the game between England and West Indies in Jamaica except that thankfully there were no quicks here that  West Indies had. Both the openers decided to counter attack as they knew they had to score runs no matter how the wicket played. Both Asvin (33) and Waleed (12) were out after a well made opening partnership of 65. This brought in the pair of Raja and Kuldeep. Raja batted sensibly by rotating strike and giving most of the strike to Kuldeep. Kuldeep played one of the best innings on a very difficult wicket. He absolutely destroyed the bowling and was making everything look very simple. After Raja was out for a well made 22, XI Stars lost two more quick wickets of Munir and Ali, both of whom were very unlucky as the ball stayed very low and had no chance. This brought in Neelesh who batted beautifully with Kuldeep by rotating the strike and playing some delightful strokes on the offside. Kuldeep on the other hand continued his big hitting He scored an outstanding 121 before getting out to an excellent catch from Nelson. XI Stars finally finished their innings at 282/7 in 40 overs with Neelesh remaining 48 not out. After a delightful lunch it was XI stars turn to bowl on a helpful wicket. The plan to keep the things simple and let the wicket do the damage. The fired up XI stars bowling unit showed how difficult the wicket actually was by bowling excellent lines and lot of unplayable deliveries. The bowling unit was well supported by excellent catching in the outfied. The chief destroyers were Asad Shah:19/3, Raja Hafeez: 23/3 and Ali Saleem: 18/2. Uprising CC at no stage could get going and previous day hero Amir Khan couldnt trouble the scorers courtesy of a snorter from Mounir and the ball was caught easily by Shahab. The match aptly ended with a stunning catch from Ali Saleem who ran all the way from covers to mid off and dived full length to take a one handed catch. The win now puts XI Stars one step close to the semifinals. 

Scorecard: Click Here

Geneva XI Stars CC knocked out of Pickwick Cup T20 Championship

22 July 2012

Geneva XI Stars CC took on Uprising CC in the PIckwick CupT20 quarterfinals at Cossonay cricket ground on a beautiful Saturday morning. After winning the toss Geneva XI Stars decided to bat first and the skipper Raja started the innings with a bang and the scoreboard raced to 40 runs in 3 overs before he was dismissed by Raheel Malik trying to go for another big six. This was followed by the loss of wicket the very next ball ball of Waleed who was adjudged lbw. Asvin and Ali then had a good partnership of 30 runs with both of them running quickly between the wickets and taking the scoreboard to 88 in 9 overs. Both of them then got out within the span of 2 overs leaving the new batsmen a task of rebuilding the innings. Mounir and Shahab batted well, but no batsman could stay long and take the game to Uprising. The loss of momentum and panicky running led to Geneva XI Stars folding up at 131 in 20 overs for the loss of 8 wickets. The team was short of at least 40 runs on a good batting wicket and a quick outfield. It was a tough ask for the bowlers to defend such a target on this ground. Although the bowlers bowled well, it needed one batsman to take the game away and thats exactly what happened with Amir Khan scoring a quick 59 not out and taking the game away from  XI Stars. Uprising CC achieved the target in 16 overs although both Raja and Ali bowled very well and picked up 3 wickets each. The game once again showed the difficulty XI Stars faced this year in adapting to the T20 format. They now know that they have to play well on sunday in the SCA league game (a format they are better at) against Uprising CC at their home ground in Vernier.

Scorecard: Click Here

Geneva XI Stars collect a SCA League victory over Cossonay

Ali Saleem- 17 July 2012

The Geneva XI Stars hosted Cossonay CC in a SCA League match on Sunday 15^th of July. Winning the toss, the XI Stars skipper Raja Hafeez opted to bat first. The XI Stars knew their home ground conditions well and they knew that they needed a big score on the Onex ground to put pressure on the Cossonay side. Asvin Lakkaraju and Waleed Saleem opened the innings for the Geneva side. They rotated the strike well and collected the boundaries at regular intervals to keep the run rate over 6 runs an over at all times. By the time Waleed was dismissed for 23 in the 16^th over of the innings, the score was already 102. Muhammad Ali came in at number 3 and played at a good pace along with Asvin until the drinks break in the 20^th over. At the halfway mark, the XI Stars had 138 runs on the board, but they also had 9 wickets remaining and that left them with plenty of firepower with the bat to accelerate later on.

Muhammad Ali and Asvin were merciless on the Cossonay bowlers after the drinks break though. They added another 62 to their partnership in just 5 overs, before Muhammad Ali was dismissed for 53 in the 25^th over, with the score on 202. Several players came in and played quick cameos from one end, as Asvin held his wicket at the other end. His stay at the crease lasted 36 overs and he scored a mammoth 143, which included 16 fours. It was a perfectly paced innings, in which he kept rotating the strike regularly and accelerated when the situation demanded him to do so. His century was instrumental in the XI Stars’ success with the bat, as theGeneva side finished their 40 overs with 322 runs on the board. A big total, but they would feel that they fell 20-30 runs short, after the sort of start their top order provided them. Although they scored 90 runs in the last 10 overs, the XI Stars lost 6 wickets in the process. That is one area of their game that they will have to improve on for the upcoming matches.

The XI Stars knew that despite having a big score, they needed to get early wickets to put pressure on the Cossonay team. Mounir Barone provided the early breakthrough, bowling the Cossonay captain out in the 3^rd over of the innings. The XI Stars didn’t get to enjoy this success much, as after the fourth over of the innings, heavy rain descended on the ground and, as has been the case on several Sundays this year, a chance of a rained out game crossed everybody’s mind. Much to everyone’s relief though, the overhead clouds dispersed and allowed for the cricket to resume. The interruption, however, meant that Cossonay would get a readjusted target. Cossonay got a 56 runs reduction in the target, however they had 33 overs to chase the new target of 267 in 33 overs, instead of the full 40 overs. Aftab Shah was run out by Asvin in the 8^th over and the threatening Sathya Narayan was out hit wicket off the bowling of Asad Shah in the 10^th over of the innings. The XI Stars looked to be in control of the match with Cossonay at 62-3 after 10 overs. However, with the ball quickly losing its shine and seam due to the still wet outfield, Cossonay’s Matt Boden and Sriniketh Srinivasan struck a partnership to give Cossonay some hope. Ali Saleem was then introduced to the attack and he removed Matt Boden for 31 in the 17^h over, as Muhammad Ali took a brilliantly judged high catch at the long off boundary. Sriniketh, however, found a willing partner in Kishore Sandhu and both of them added quick runs to the board. At the drinks break, the Cossonay team was on 142 for the loss of 4 wickets and needed to go at about 10 runs an over to win the match. The XI Stars knew that they needed to get quick wickets if they were to take this match out of Cossonay's reach. Kishore, Sriniketh and Pradeep all went in a very short interval of one another, taking all hope of a victory away from Cossonay CC. Homayun Sherz, the stand-out bowler of the day, cleaned the tail up quickly and ended up with brilliant figures of 3 for 22 off 7.3 overs. Ali Saleem collected 2 wickets, along with being involved in the run out of Sriniketh and Raja Hafeez, Mounir Barone and Asad Shah were the other wicket takers with 1 wicket each. Cossonay were eventually bowled out for 206 in the 29^th over of the chase and the XI Stars collected a well-deserved 61 runs win.

Scorecard: Click Here

Geneva XI Stars knocked out of Lloyds TSB Swiss T20 Championship as a result of two consecutive defeats.

 By Ali Saleem- 12 July 2012

Geneva XI Stars played two matches on the weekend of 7^th and 8^th July, and lost to Olten CC and Nomads CC, which means that their Swiss T20 campaign has come to an end.

In their first match, on Saturday, the side from Geneva took on the team from Olten and were asked to bat first on the Cossonay pitch. The opening bowlers of the Olten side bowled with great accuracy, frustrating the opening batsmen, who not only found it difficult to hit boundaries, but also failed to rotate the strike effectively. The pressure put by the Olten bowlers resulted in the wicket of opener and skipper, Raja Hafeez, in the fifth over of the match, with only 15 runs on the board.

Asvin was the second man to leave, sweeping the ball up in the air in an attempt to raise the run rate. Farhan also departed in the 10^th over of the innings and at the halfway mark, the XI Stars scorecard read 42 runs for the loss of 3 wickets. The pair of Ali Saleem and Mounir Barone then combined in the middle with a partnership of 40 from just 5 overs. Ali rotated the strike well and Mounir hit 3 sixes and 1 four in his innings of 24, before being brilliantly caught by Olten’s Murali at short cover. Shahab, Faisal and Neelesh all played their roles brilliantly and ran hard between the wickets, something that was lacking in the first half of the innings. In doing so, they showed the importance of not only hitting the boundaries, but also running between the wickets and ensured that the run rate for the last 5 overs was over 8 an over, as they added another 42 runs to the total, finishing with 125 on the board. Ali Saleem remained not out on 35, an innings that comprised mainly of doubles and singles with 1 six and 2 fours.

With a low total to defend, the XI Stars needed to get quick wickets in order to win the match. Ali Saleem removed Olten’s Raja in the fourth over of the innings with the score on 21, which gave the XI Stars an opening. However, Olten taught the XI Stars a lesson in the art of running between the wickets by pinching quick ones and twos at every given opportunity. The XI Stars hit back with two quick wickets. Asad Shah removed Murali for 4 and Farhan removed Afzaal for 10. With Olten on 66 for 3 after 10 overs, the match was evenly poised. How the team would field was going to be crucial at this stage, and it eventually was, as Olten’s Prathersh, who was dropped a couple of times by the XI Stars, made them pay for their poor fielding by hitting an unbeaten 56. With the team morale quickly descending, Olten’s Rayan finished the match quickly with a quick fire 34, as Olten claimed victory within 16 overs.

The next day, the XI Stars were faced with a do-or-die situation. They had to win their match against Nomads in order to qualify for the semi-finals. Nomads won the toss and decided to bat first. What followed was absolute carnage as the Nomads batsmen smashed the XI Stars bowlers to all parts of the ground. Nomads’ Kamran was particularly unforgiving on the bowlers as he amassed a massive 137 not out, which included 12 huge sixes. Aseem (42) and Faheem (80) were the other two chief destroyers from the Nomads’ side. The fielding was once again of an extremely poor standard. Some key catches were dropped and the ground fielding was equally poor. The game could’ve ended differently had the Stars not ignored this vital aspect of the game. The bowling, which has been the strong point of the XI Stars so far this season, due to the depth, completely succumbed to the pressure put by the Nomads’ batsmen. In the end, Nomads amassed a massive total of 274 for the loss of just 3 wickets.

This meant that the XI Stars would have to chase at about 14 runs an over in order to qualify for the semi-finals. Unfortunately, this not happen, as the XI Stars kept losing wickets at regular intervals. Only 3 batsmen managed to get into double figures, as the Stars were all out for 90 in the 17^th over of the chase, suffering a massive 184 runs loss.

Once again, just like the previous day, the XI Stars were outplayed in all three departments of the game by the opposition. This gives the Geneva XI Stars a clear indication that they need to improve on all three departments of the game, especially the fielding, if they want to go back to winning ways. 

vs Olten CC Scorecard: Click Here 

vs Nomads CC Scorecard: Click here

Pickwick Cup game rescheduled

5 July 2012

The Pickwick Cup game between Geneva XI Stars CC and Uprising CC has been rescheduled for 21 July at 10.30am at Cossonay Cricket ground.

Match Called off after heavy rain

1 July 2012

The Pickwick Cup Quarterfinals between Geneva XI Stars CC and Uprising CC had to be called off due to heavy rain. After winning the toss Geneva XI Stars decided to bad under a cloudy sky. Scoring at more than a run a ball Geneva XI Stars were looking for a good total and were 47/1 in 5 overs when the heavens opened up and no further play was possible. The game will now be rescheduled as it is a knock out tournament.

Scorecard: Click Here

Geneva XI Stars defeat Cern CC in friendly game

25 June 2012

Geneva XI Stars played a friendly games against Cern CC on a bright and sunny day at Onex. Batting first Cern CC scored 222 all out which included a fine half century by Sahil Choudhary. For Geneva XI Stars CC, Nouman Khan picked up 3 wicktes, Ali Saleem 2 wickets and Asad Shah picked up 2 wickets too. Batting second Geneva XI Stars started brightly and finished brightly by scoring the required target of 223 in 21 overs. Skipper Raja Hafeez and youngster Waleed Saleem shared a new club record opening partnership of 215 in 20 overs. Raja Hafeez was finally dismissed for a scintillating 161 while Waleed remained not out on 38.

Scorecard: Click Here

More details and complete Match report to follow soon....

Zuoz Cricket Festival

18 June 2012

Game 1: vs Lyceum Alpinum

The game one for Geneva XI Stars CC was scheduled on the pitch 1 against the hosts Lyceium. The team was composed of young well trained and fit players. After winning the toss Geneva XI Stars CC unsure of how the wicket would play decided to field first.  Mounir and Vithu started with the new ball on a quick and bouncy wicket. The hosts showed excellent defense against the new ball and once set their eye in started scoring freely against all the bowlers. Finally they ended up with a very good score of 183/4 in 30 overs with their captain scoring a classy 92 not out and carrying the bat through the innings. What followed after 10 min break was a disaster for XI Stars. They kept loosing wickets at regular intervals and could never build any sort of partnership which is needed to win such games. They ended up scoring 106 all out in 22 overs.The hosts bowled excellent line and length aided by agile fielding. The hosts were far better side on the day and well done to them!!!!

Game 2: vs GRYCC

The next game was drawn up against our neighbors in Geneva, GRYCC. The hosts who were invited for the tournament, had a combined team of 3 players from GRYCC, 6 players from Cossonay CC and 2 players from other teams which were participating in Zuoz. XI Stars once again won the toss and decided to bat first this time. This time around the batting order was reversed so as to give everyone a chance to bat. The runs started to come quickly on a very fast outfield and not a  big ground. The wickets also fell at regular intervals until Shahab and Waleed played excellently for a 65 run partnership.  Another partnership  of  30 runs followed between Asvin who batted at number 9 and Waleed for the 9th wicket. Finally Geneva XI Stars were bowled out for 200 in 29 overs. After a short break XI Stars started bowling steadily and Farhan bowling excellently to pick up 5 wickets. With tiring legs and fast outfield followed by poor bowling and fielding and some lusty hitting from Himank and Co brought them close to the target. With 6 runs needed of the last over, the captain took over the responsibility to bowl the final over and gave away just one run in the first five balls. However, the day belonged to young Jai Sinh, who to the amazement of everyone present in the ground hit the last ball of the match to a six over cow corner. A great game of cricket where the real winner was cricket. Well done Jai and GRYCC!!! 

Game 3: vs Munich CC

After two consecutive defeats the previous day, the new day brought new hope and enthusiasm. Once again after winning the toss Geneva XI Stars decided to bat  against an experienced Munich team comprising four spinners. Raja who opened the innings in this game scored a fantastic 115 with 10 huge sixes. With good knocks from Kuldeep and Shahab, XI Stars ended up with a good score of 224 in 30 overs. Munich started their reply by scoring of 14 runs of first three balls bowled b Munir but he came back with 2 wickets in next 3 balls. Wickets kept falling on one end but Mark Lovell who was dropped twice decided to take things into his hands and started smashing everyone into the stands. He was specially severe on spinners. What was thought to be an improbable target was not so far away anymore for Munich. 30 from 3 overs became 19 from 2 overs and 7 runs from 2 balls. At this point the whole ground was filled with spectators and even the big finals going on in the adjacent ground was held up to see the last two balls!!! The second last ball was smashed to long on and the ball duly passed through the legs of the fielder there to the shock of everyone fielding and a huge roar among he spectators and the Munich team and supporters. The last ball nightmare came back again in less than 24 hrs. This time however, unlike Jai the previous day, Mark missed the last ball to the great delight of XI Stars fielders and could not score the required 3 runs to win the game. He ended up not out on an unbelievable 166, almost single handedly winning the match. Cricket was the winner once again and everyone present there were privileged to watch two outstanding hundreds. After the game both teams shook hand and  took some photographs and started their way back home satisfied after a thoroughly enjoyable weekend of cricket . 

Not many victories for XI Stars but it was fantastic to just be part of some amazing cricket matches. Lot of lessons learned for the upcoming games and also lot of new friendships made!!!!

A special thanks to Mark Jones, the organizer from Lyceum Alpinum for inviting us and organizing such a fantastic tournament in the beautiful alpine ranges. We are all looking forward to come back next year to this beautiful place.

Team: Raja Hafeez, Neelesh Kulkarni, Faisal Butt, Shahabullah, Waleed Saleem, Farhan Ahmad, Kuldeep Rawat, Asad Shah, Munir Barone, Vithurasan, Asvin Lakkaraju

Photos and Match videos will follow soon

ARCV launches a new team for Geneva XI Stars CC

13 June 2012

Geneva XI Stars CC will now have two teams representing the club. The Team 1 is already represented in the Swiss Cricket Association and currently has more that 4 players in the national set up. The Team 2 will be consisting of all the new comers to the club and they will be play friendly games and Pickwick Cup. The goal for the next two years will be to have two teams from Geneva XI Stars playing in the SCA League.

Match abandoned due to rain again

12 June 2012

Another league match has been interrupted by rain for Geneva XI Stars CC. The scheduled league match between Geneva XI Stars CC and GICC started on time at 12.30. Batting first Geneva XI Stars CC made of huge score of 326/8 in 40 overs. New comer for 2012 season, Kuldeep Rawat made an enterprising 63 and shared a partnership of 126 runs with the experienced Asvin Lakkaraju who scored 90. Md. Ali made a breezy 44 and Parth Patel chipped in with a quick fire 35 not out providing required momentum going into lunch. After the lunch GICC started their innings in slight drizzle and were 55/2 in 12 overs, when the intensity of the rain increased and the match had to be stopped and no further play was possible due to continuous rain. XI Stars will now be looking to play the next weekend in a cricket festival being held in the beautiful alpine village of Zuoz and hoping for no more rain interruptions.

Scorecard:Click Here

Match abandoned due to rain 

4 June 2012

The much anticipated game between Geneva XI Stars CC and Berne CC ended up a victim of heavy rains that lashed all over Switzerland on the Sunday and had to be abandoned.  The next league game for Geneva XI Stars will be played at Onex against Geneva International CC on 10 June.

Big game for Geneva XI Stars 

Geneva XI Stars will take on last year SCA League champions Berne CC in their second league game on 3 June. The match will be played at Marzilimoos in Berne. If history has to say anything, matches between the two sides have always been thrillers. We have to wait and see if the match ends up like the league game last year where Geneva XI Stars CC won by 1 run or like the SCA league finals last year where Berne CC won by 2 wickets. 

Match Timings: 12.30pm-7.00pm

Match Officials: Alex Macay, John Mckillop