Denmark News Archive

Outcomes of the IWCC General Meeting

Recent news articles

• BTTW's first unofficial list of cricket playing countries or 'How To Start An Argument' (25 October 2000)
• Denmark: Svanholm wins 12th title in succession (25 October 2000)
• Denmark: Surprise as title race comes alive (2 September 2000)
• European Championships - Day 5 Results (28 July 2000)
• European Championships - Day 4 Results (26 July 2000)
• England, Holland head for Euro showdown (25 July 2000)

Denmark profile

History
Nothing definite is on record as to when the game was introduced into Denmark, but it was mentioned in a Collection of Gymnastic Games in 1801 under the name of `Gateball'. It is believed to have been played in a Copenhagen `ball game club' in 1861, the members of which were Danes who had been to England and British railway engineers working in Denmark. The first officially recorded matches date from 1865 at Randers, in Jutland, and the two encounters in 1866 between Copenhagen and the Sore Academy sides. In 1887 the first match of an international nature took place when the KB club of Copenhagen played a team drawn from the officers and men of the Prince of Wales's yacht, the Osborne, surprisingly won by the Danish team.

Only friendly matches had been played until this time, but by 1889 sufficient clubs existed over the country for the game to become incorporated into the `Danish Ball Games Union' - an association dominated by football but including also lawn tennis. This led to regional tournaments the following year, when the Laws of Cricket were translated for the first time into Danish. The man behind the latter was the great advocate of cricket of the time, Lt-Col Hilarius Kalkau, who became President of the Union the next year. In 1890 organized tournaments began in Copenhagen and also, on a regional basis, in Jutland. Not until 1953, though, did the game succeed in breaking free from football; this was the year in which the Danish Cricket Association was founded and nationwide championships began.

Football's tendency to hold cricket back may be partly explained by the two sports overlapping. In many cases cricket is but a section of a football club and has to play second fiddle with regard to grounds. With so little cricket being played in the schools, it has to be fostered in the clubs. These number about 40.

After the First World War British teams began visiting Denmark more frequently. They included MCC, Leicester CC, Incogniti, Gentlemen of Worcestershire and Sir Julien Cahn's XI. The man behind many of these visits was R. P. Keigwin, who had shown a great interest in Danish cricket while living in Denmark. Following the Second War contacts spread chiefly through British services organizations in Germany, and these are maintained to this day. In 1954 the Oxford University side came to Denmark, including such players as Colin Cowdrey and M. J. K. Smith. This made a considerable impression, and in 1957 Cambridge followed.

Another important contact dated from 1947, which resulted in Holland's oldest club, UD, visiting Denmark the next year. In 1955 the first of the Continental `Tests' between the two countries took place, at The Hague. The cup played for between the countries was in Dutch hands until 1972, in which year Denmark's most decisive breakthrough occurred. Denmark's next international victory was against Canada at Toronto in 1974, and this was followed the next year with an excellent win over East Africa, fresh from the Prudential Cup competition in England. In 1976 another good win was recorded in Denmark against an MCC side, and it was with this background that the Danish national side prepared for its greatest adventure - the ICC Trophy competition of 1979 in England. Victories over Fiji, Malaysia, Canada and Bangladesh were well worth having.

Early individual players of note included Harald Hansen, a hitter, and the stylish Charles Buchwald, who scored 28 hundreds; later B. Pockendahl made 33 hundreds. The legbreak googly bowler, Louis Bronee, acquired a great reputation in the 1930s. It is also hardly possible to discuss Danish cricket without mentioning the Morild family, whose doyen, Thomas, played his last match in 1969 when 81. His eldest nephew, Axel, has scored most runs in Danish cricket, and history was made in 1955 when his son, Svend, fielded against Holland with his own son, Carsten, also in the side. Since then, Carsten's son, Claus, has repeated the feat with his father, for what is surely a world record.

The Danish team which played against MCC at Lord's in 1961 included the three young players, Henrik Mortensen, Hardy Sorensen and Klaus Buus, and it has been these who have formed the nucleus of the Danish side with Carsten Morild over the past generation. With an absence of good outfields, a spectator public, and television publicity, the governing of the game poses a constant challenge in this amateur cricket country.
DG Steptoe and PS Hargreaves, adapted from Barclays World of Cricket