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Five teams battle it out in Germany's Northern League
Cricket has been going on an organised basis for about four years in Northern Germany. The five teams participating in the Northern league in 1999 are:
Bremen Cricket Club Bremen Cricket Club has been in existence for many years and was playing friendly matches long before the league was formally organised. They have their own ground in Bremen. Arfan Ali, a key bowler and batsman in the team, captains the North German Select team which represents North Germany against the other leagues in Germany (South, Hessen, North Rhine Westfalia and Berlin) in the annual tournament in Berlin. Alster Cricket Club is based in Hamburg and has been in existence for four years. They too have their own ground. Of all the clubs in the league, Alster is doing the most to encourage the participation of indigenous Germans in the sport. One of their members, John Kirby, runs an active cricket coaching course in the school at which he teaches, and promising youngsters have the opportunity to make use of Alster's excellent net practice facilities. Alster are captained by Bob Whitelaw, an infectiously enthusiastic cricketer from Perth, Australia. Göttingen Cricket Club are affiliated to the University of Göttingen, and their ground is situated in the University playing fields. Last year they fielded a strong multi-cultural team with players from New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, South Africa, England as well as local, home-grown talent. As well as being a key player, Dhushan Ekenayake serves as Sports Director on the Committee of the DCB (Deutscher Cricket Bund) and is also a selector for the German national side. Göttingen are captained by Englishman, Ed Cargill, and under his canny guidance they mounted a strong challenge for the title last year. Kassel Cricket Club is new to the North German league this year, having previously participated in the Hessen league. Little is known about Kassel's strength on the cricket field, as they have yet to play their first match this season. Their mentor and chief organiser, Alfred Groth, serves as Youth Officer on the DCB committee, and it is undoubtedly thanks to his tireless commitment to the game that we are able this year to welcome a new team to the league. Pak Alemi Cricket Club is based in Hamburg and was formed in 1988. They maintained an unbeaten record throughout the league season, and were crowned champions in September. Unfortunately they were unable to progress in the national club knockout, losing to the champions from the North Rhine Westfalia league. Zaheer Ahmed, North Germany's answer to Shoib Aktar, has opened the bowling for the German national side and will be hoping to represent Germany in the Nations Cup in Corfu in September. Pak Alemi are captained this year by Rashid Mohammed, a powerful middle-order batsman and wily off-spin bowler. The 1999 league season The new league season got underway on May 9th and so far two matches have taken place. The first match between Bremen and Alster took place on the British Army ground in Fallingbostel. Bremen batted first and made 157 runs in reply to which Alster were bowled out for 122 despite a plucky, hard-hitting knock of 57 by their left-arm opening bowler from India, Dilip Nair. The second match saw Alster take on Pak Alemi on their home ground in Hamburg. Pak Alemi were invited to bat first, and in spite of the lively and accurate opening attack which claimed 3 quick wickets, Pak Alemi batted through their allotted 50 overs to reach a total of 238 runs, thanks in no small measure to a powerful innings of 65 from their middle-order batsman, Qasim Ali, who took full advantage of the invitingly short boundaries. Despite a steady start, Alster could find no consistent answer to an accurate bowling attack and were bowled out for 110. The Berlin (eastern) league has started. The first game, between Staaken (known as Berlin Stragglers CC) and Berlin CC was abandoned because of heavy rain after 35 overs of the Staakens innings. Because BCC didn't bat the game will be replayed. Staaken would have been unimpressed, after scoring 232-2, one of their highest scores for years. The second game was between DSSC and Viktoria, two mainly Pakistani teams, however at this stage, scores are unavailable. Last weekend, BCC lost to Viktoria. BCC scored 195 from their allotted overs, only to be overtaken by Viktoria. DSSC smashed Staaken by 412/8 to 60 all out. Staaken played with nine men had no chance against the German champions. DSSC was fielding very aggressive with up to six men in the slips cordon. Four batsmen were out for ducks with only Rupert Lavington, the chairman of the Berlin Cricket Committee (BCA) reaching double figures.
Team P W D L Bonus Total 1 DSSC 2 2 0 0 0 16 2 Viktoria 2 1 0 1 0 8 3 Staaken 1 0 0 1 1 1 4 BCC 1 0 0 1 0 0 (1 Bonus Point for each under-19 player used in a game)
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