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U15/U17 Training Camp in Husum

4 day youth training camp with 4 matches against 3 Danish teams

Jugend Cricket beim THCC Hamburg

Back row: Husum CC, 2nd row: THCC Rot-Gelb Hamburg,
3rd row: Køge CC, Front row: Skanderborg CC

Husum 21.-24.08.2015

THCC Rot-Gelb Jugend Husum 2Background – For several years now, THCC Rot-Gelb Hamburg has held successful summer youth cricket camps at its ground in Hamburg, in association with the Twenty20 Cricket Company. In 2014, there were even two camps, a week-long soft ball camp also open to the youngest cricketers and a 3 day hard ball camp for the older ones. In 2015, however, the THCC youth coaches volunteered to dedicate some of their holidays to run the camps themselves. The soft ball camp was run by coaches Keith, Matthew and Steve and took place 17th–20th August at the THCC ground in Hamburg Klein-Flottbek.

For the hard ball camp, however, the coaches recognized that what the U15/U17 players needed most was match practice. With so few matches scheduled during the outdoor season, as a result of having so few opponents in Northern Germany, the coaches reached out to Husum CC early in the year and asked about holding the camp at their fine ground and playing matches against the Husum team and potentially some Danish teams as well. Jörg Krüger at Husum CC invited youth teams from Køge (near Copenhagen) and Skanderborg, and together with the THCC and Husum teams, a 4 team youth cricket festival was born.

Day 1 – Arriving at Husum early on Friday afternoon, the 12 players first acquainted themselves with the excellent cricket facilities and onsite accommodation, but very soon changed into their training gear, keen to start putting bat to ball. Coach Frank first put them through their paces with some fielding practice in the outfield, before making use of the fine net facilities. The boys could hardly tear themselves away from the net practice, Frank only calling it a day when supper was called at around 7pm. By this time cooks Sven and Constanze had arrived and prepared a hearty meal.

Cricket in Norddeutschland

 

Day 2 – The first fixture on the schedule was a 15 over match with a 9am start against the young team from Køge CC. Coach Frank had decided to experiment with different captains for each game, and so having lost the toss, Niklas sent in Zaki and Mishan to open the batting. With a tournament rule having been agreed upon that the batsmen were to retire having scored 25, Zaki (27*) soon made way for Maher (26*), who in turn made way for Niklas. Mishan (26*) soon also had to retire and so THCC finished their allotted 15 overs on 122/0, with 3 batsmen retired and Niklas (15*) and Till (6*) undefeated at the crease.

Jugend Cricket in Norddeutschland
Zaki and Jan opened the THCC bowling with Maher keeping wicket, but Niklas rotated the bowlers frequently and managed to give all 10 bowlers either 1 or 2 overs. Køge finished on 50/6, with the wickets being shared by Luke (2), Zaki, Kilian, Till and Arif. An easy win by 72 runs gave the team confidence, but it was clear that the older teams from Husum and Skanderborg would represent a stiffer challenge.
The THCC team then had a break whilst the Danish teams played each other, and were able to observe the opposition in preparation for their next game in the afternoon, or practice in the nets. Another tournament rule which the THCC players and coaches found to be appropriate, and worthy of consideration for the North German youth leagues, was that wides and noballs were counted 1, but not repeated until the last 2 overs (of a 15 over game). This resulted in good timekeeping but also avoided having team scores unnaturally inflated by awarding 2 runs for a wide or noball.

In the afternoon, it was Luke’s turn to captain the team against the impressive-looking home team from Husum, which included Leon, a Danish U15 international as wicketkeeper/batsman and Luca, an imposingly tall and powerful opening bowler. Husum batted first but were restricted in their 15 overs to just 64/4, a result of some very disciplined bowling and fielding by the THCC team after the Husum team had got off to a good start. Torben, Niklas and Kilian each took a wicket and there was good runout by Johann too. Zaki was especially miserly, his 3 overs only costing 5 runs, but it was Torben’s late inswinger accounting for the Husum opener Leon which was the highlight.

Jugend Cricket in Schleswig Holstein
Continuing to experiment, and in the interests of rotating the opportunities, coach Frank and captain Luke sent in Arslan and Arif to open the batting. Both impressed with their calm and measured approach, picking up singles and waiting for the bad ball. After Arslan (8) was caught, Zaki came in for a quickfire 25* before retiring. Following a brief innings from Torben, the victim of some of his own late inswinging medicine, Arif (12*) and Maher (5*) reached the target with more than 3 overs to spare, resulting in a comfortable 8 wicket victory.
In the evening, Husum CC laid on a barbeque for all 4 teams. Before and afterwards, the youngsters (and a few of the adults) were so keen to keep on playing cricket that an impromptu friendly game was played as the sun gradually went down. A great day of cricket!

Day 3 – Sunday morning dawned as sunny as the preceding days, and THCC were due to play the first game of the morning again, this time a 12 over match against Køge CC. It was Mishan’s turn to captain, Køge won the toss and elected to bat. Jan and Luke opened the bowling, but as in the previous games, the bowling was rotated frequently and 8 bowlers were used. With the exception of the Køge opener Simon (12), none of the batsmen managed to get into double figures, with Till (3/1), Kilian (2/2), Zaki (2/4), Jan (1/3) and Luke (1/5) sharing the wickets and the Køge innings closing on 24 after 11.5 overs. Mishan performed his captain’s role admirably, encouraging his players and directing his fielders well.
As neither had batted in the previous games, Kilian and Jan were invited to open the batting for THCC. Jan (1) was caught behind in the 2nd over but Kilian (7) and Luke coming in at first drop played responsibly, before Kilian was bowled. Johann (0) was similarly dismissed coming in at 4, but Torben (2*) and Luke (7*) ensured the target was reached in the 7th over.

Jugendcricket in Hamburg

The Danish teams then played each other again before the final match of the weekend. This was a 32 over game played with a white ball, with THCC asked to take on a combined “best of” team from the Husum and Skanderborg sides. Each team numbered 12 players, with 12 batting and 11 fielding at any one time. Till assumed the captain’s mantle and the Husum/Skanderborg team went into bat first. Maher and Jan opened the bowling for THCC but the batsmen got off to a great start, racking up 32 runs in the first 4 overs. The first wicket fell to Maher, caught behind by Zaki off a mis-hooked short ball. Against tighter bowling and fielding, the Husum/Skanderborg run-rate slowed but wickets proved elusive, with the Danes batting sensibly. The innings closed on 167/6, the wickets shared 1 a-piece between Niklas, Maher, Torben, Zaki and Arslan, with one runout.
THCC went into bat knowing that with their batting line-up, they only needed to bat sensibly over the 32 overs, and the target should be achievable. Torben and Luke opened, but Torben was bowled in the 2nd over. Zaki coming in at 3 showed his intent and was lucky not to be caught early in his innings. Luke (4) was 2nd out, bowled by another inswinger with the score on 31, but with Maher joining Zaki at the crease it seemed the match might be over quickly. However the Husum and Skanderborg attack bowled with discipline, and so it was that the batsmen’s impatience resulted in their respective downfalls, Zaki (20) and Maher (23) both getting out caught, not having sufficiently adjusted from the 12 or 15 over match formats to the 32 over format, and used to playing 20 overs in the North German youth leagues.
From then on the THCC batsmen took it in turns to keep Mishan company at the crease. Mishan resolutely defended the good balls and had the patience to wait for the run-scoring opportunities and the occasional extra. When last man Jan came in with the score on 107 in the 19th over, 5 runs per over were required. Over after over, Mishan and Jan (2*) stuck it out, picking up singles and extras and defending their wickets. Fans of test match cricket would have been delighted. Finally, however, in the 27th over, Mishan was out caught after an admirable innings of 25 off 57 balls, the THCC innings closing on 131, a defeat by 26 runs.

Day 4 – The final day of the camp was dedicated to an extended training session. With the clouds coming in from the North Sea, it was decided to make the best use of the training facilities and pitch instead of going to play beach cricket at St. Peter-Ording in the afternoon, as originally planned. Fielding drills and then some match situation batting in pairs rounded off the camp. All in all, it was a tremendously successful camp and one which we would certainly like to hold again next year. It was great to renew the relationship with Husum CC and to make new contacts with Køge CC and Skanderborg CC.

Many thanks are due to our hosts Jörg and Martin at Husum and to all the THCC parents and family members who made the camp possible by helping with the driving, catering, coaching, umpiring and scoring.

THCC Rot-Gelb U15/U17: Arif, Arslan, Jan, Johann, Kilian, Luke, Maher, Mishan, Niklas, Till, Torben und Zaki.
Coach: Frank Tschentscher

With thanks to the supporting parents and family members: Constanze, Sven, Gundi, Björn, Max, Ather, Anja and Mark.

 

Sponsor des THCC Cricket Hamburg

Die Jugendmannschaften des THCC Rot-Gelb Cricket werden unterstützt von Schultze & Braun.

Rückblick auf 2014

Find the English version below.

THCC wird vom DCB als Klub des Jahres ausgezeichnet

Wie so oft erarbeitete der THCC sich in diesem Jahr Anerkennung auf und abseits des Feldes. Das Jahr startete vielversprechend mit einer Nennung im 2014 Wisden Almanack und einer Ehrung durch den Bezirk Altona für unsere Jugendarbeit. Diese Ehrung brachte uns auch beachtliche Präsenz in den lokalen Medien ein.

Sportlich begann das Jahr mit einer actionreichen Wintersaison und nicht weniger als vier THCC-Teams im Herren-Indoor-Turnier des NDCV. Drei dieser Teams – inklusive unserer U19 – erreichten die Runde der letzten Acht, doch sie mussten den Sieg der starken SG Findorff aus Bremen überlassen.

Im Frühjahr begann die Feldsaison der Bundesliga Nord, die in diesem Jahr aus sechs Teams bestand – darunter natürlich auch unsere Erste Mannschaft als Titelverteidiger. Sowohl die THCC Academicals als auch die Desperadoes starteten in der Regionalliga. Nach einem überzeugenden 9-Wicket-Sieg im ersten Spiel verlor die 1st XI leider zwei Matches. Zwar konnte sich die Mannschaft in der Mitte der Saision wieder etwas fangen, aber zwei Niederlagen am Ende der Saison ließen die Hoffnung auf eine Verteidigung des Titels schwinden. Der Zweite Platz der Tabelle beschönigte eine eher enttäuschende Saison, während der zwei unserer erfolgreichsten Spieler, Surya und Vinay, uns in Richtungs Ausland verließen.

Die Desperadoes starteten ihre Saison mit einem Derby-Sieg über die Academicals, die ihrerseits im ersten Spiel einen Sieg gegen das neue Team aus Bremen-Findorff einfahren konnten. Den Rest der Regionalligasaison aber konnten beide Teams nicht mehr so erfolgreich gestalten – unter anderem durch einige Spielabsagen.

Die Höhepunkte der Saison bestanden für viele unserer Cricketer bestanden zweifellos in den vielen Freundschaftsspielen. Wir empfingen drei tourende Teams aus dem Vereinigten Königreich: Crawford’s Commandos aus London, gefolgt von Tarzan’s Touring XI aus dem West Country und zuletzt die Swansea Law Society. Außerdem sandte der THCC auch selbst Teams auf Tour: zunächst auf die Nordseeinsel Helgoland zu einem der traditionsreichen Matches gegen die Heligoland Pilgrims und nach Dresden in einem leider nicht von Erfolg gekrönten Versuch, den Elbe Bowl zurück nach Hamburg zu holen.

Für die sportlichen Erfolge sorgten in diesem Jahr unsere hervorragenden Jugendteams: Die U19 gewann nicht nur ihr Indoor-Turnier, sondern auch die NDCV U19 outdoor league. Auch die U17 gewann ihr Indoor-Turnier. Die U15 erreichten in beiden Wettbewerben einen respektablen zweiten Platz und die U11 zeigte eine steile Lernkurve gegen größtenteils ältere Gegner.
Wir setzten unser Engagement im Bereich des Jugend-Crickets fort – und setzten dabei neue Maßstäbe mit nicht nur einem, sondern gleich zwei T20-Trainingscamps für Jugendliche. Außerdem boten wir im Rahmen des Hamburger Ferienpass mehrere kostenlose Workshops für Hamburgs Schulkinder an.

Besondere Erwähnung verdient das neugegründete THCC-Ladies-Team. Die Ladies gaben ihr Debut in der neuen Damen-Bundesliga. Oft war es eine zu große Hürde, elf Spielerinnen zusammenzukriegen – und wenn, dann waren einige oft absolute Anfängerinnen. Die Ladies gewannen zwar kein Spiel, aber dafür viel Anerkennung – und es gab im Laufe der Saison auch einige bemerkenswerte Einzelleistungen zu bewundern. Es war nur passend, dass die Ladies ihre ersten zwei Spiele unter den Augen einer Delegation des ICC und des DCB spielten, die nach Hamburg gekommen waren, um Zeugen des Wachstums im Damen- und Jugendbereich bei uns in Norddeutschland zu werden.

Im September konnten wir unsere neue Website launchen – mit einem Bericht über eine weitere erfreuliche Berichterstattung über unseren Klub, dieses Mal in The Nightwatchman, the Wisden Cricket Quarterly. Und im November war der THCC Rot-Gelb Gastgeber der DCB-Jahreshauptversammlung, auf der er vom DCB als Deutschlands Cricket-Klub des Jahres geehrt wurde.

Alles in allem war 2014 ein Jahr sehr erfolgreicher Leistungen. Unsere Mitgliederzahlt überschreitet die Hundert immer noch bei Weitem, und wir sind guten Mutes, dass der Klub sich weiter stabilisieren und wachsen wird – bei allen Herausforderungen, die das deutsche Cricket bietet.

THCC Rot-Gelb Hamburg recognized as Germany’s Club of the Year 2014

In 2014, as many of the club’s achievements came in the form of recognition off the field, as they did in performances on it. The year of recognition started very promisingly with a mention in the 2014 Wisden Almanack and an award for youth work from the city of Altona, the latter also generating further local press coverage.

In the meantime, another action-packed winter season saw four THCC teams competing in the NDCV men’s indoor tournament. Three of them reached the last eight, including the club’s U19 team, however the competition from SG Findorff Bremen proved stronger on the final day.

In the outdoor season, the Bundesliga Nord was made up of 6 teams, including the THCC 1st XI, champions from 2013. The THCC Academicals and Desperadoes both joined the new Regionalliga. After an easy 9 wicket win in their first match, the 1st XI lost two games in a row before receovering their stride somewhat, but two further losses later in the season put any chances of winning the title again well beyond them. The final ranking in second place disguised a disappointing season during which two of the club’s most successful players, Surya and Vinay, departed for foreign climes.

The Desperadoes started their season in the Regionalliga with a win over the Academicals, with the latter soon also getting off to a good start defeating the new team from Bremen-Findorff. The rest of the Regionalliga season failed to live up to its promising beginnings, however, with some matches being cancelled.

The high points of the season for many of THCC’s cricketers were undoubtedly the friendly matches against the three visiting teams who came to Hamburg on tour from the UK, as well as the club’s own tours. First up were Crawford’s Commandos from London, followed by Tarzan’s Touring XI from the West Country and last but not least the Swansea Law Society. THCC also sent teams out on tour to the North Sea island of Heligoland, to play the Heligoland Pilgrims again and to Dresden in an unsuccessful attempt to reclaim the Elbe Bowl from RC Dresden.

THCC’s youth teams continued where they left off in 2013. The U19 team won not only its indoor tournament but also went on to win the NDCV U19 outdoor league. The U17 team won its indoor competition. The U15 team came a respectable second in both its competitions and the U11 team continued its steep learning curve upward against mostly older players. Continuing to extend its boundaries and commitment to youth cricket development, THCC hosted not just one but two Twenty/20 Youth Training Camps and also offered free introductory training to newcomers throughout the summer holidays via the Hamburger Ferienpass, the holiday pass for Hamburg’s schoolkids.

It is the THCC Ladies team, however, which deserves special mention here. The THCC Ladies entered the new Ladies Bundesliga at the deep end, often struggling to field 11 players, and equally often making up the numbers with absolute beginners. The Ladies did not win a match, but they did win a great deal of recognition and admiration and there were also several noteworthy individual performances during the season. It was particularly fitting that the Ladies played their first two matches on 18th May under the eyes of an ICC / DCB delegation who had come to Hamburg for the weekend to witness the growth of youth and Ladies cricket in the north of Germany.

In September, as the outdoor season came to an end, THCC launched its new cricket website, www.cricket-hamburg.de, on the occasion of another honourable mention in dispatches, this time in The Nightwatchman, the Widen Cricket Quarterly. And in November, THCC Rot-Gelb was honoured by the DCB as Germany’s cricket club of the year, this award being presented at the DCB Annual General Meeting held at the THCC Clubhouse, Hemmingway.

Overall, it was a year full of cricket achievements both on and above all off the field, and with membership still comfortably exceeding 100 members despite the fluctuation normal in any major city, the club will continue to consolidate and grow with the challenges of playing cricket in Germany.

THCC assert their claims against Swansea Law Society cricketers

Swansea Law Society cricket team at Hamburg

 

 

 

 

 

Swansea Law Society 207/5 (off 30 overs: T. Clayton 61*, D Owen 40*, N. O’Neill 29, N. Packer 24, T. Rees 13, Cam 5-1-11-1, Jürgen 2-0-11-1) withdraw their claims against THCC Rot-Gelb Hamburg Lawless Society 209/6 (off 29.1 overs: Satish 40, Mark R. 38*, George 36, Adrian 28, Matthew 16, Christian 13, R. Howell 6-1-23-2)

THCC Lawless Society: Steve (capt.), Adrian, Cam, Christian, George, Jürgen, Mark R. (trading as Hermann), Matthew, Moritz, Rick (+), Satish
Swansea Law Society: A. Murphy, A. Thomas, D. Owen, J. Clayton, J. Murphy, N. O’Neill, N. Packer (not related!), R. Howells, T. Clayton, T. Rees, reinforced by Mark B.
Umpire: Kev

Hamburg 7.9.2014, Report by Max Minor, THCC cricket correspondent

The most recent overseas visitors’ team to THCC’s gem of a cricket ground came from Swansea in South Wales. The local Law Society had sent some of their learned members to Hamburg in order to plead a case of cricket. As much as they appealed, however, their claims were rejected by the home side, a predominantly lawless bunch of club members including four Germans and a single lawyer. Early in the morning, the Welshmen on their way, the ground staff had rolled out the new green carpet pitch. Then, under an overcast sky and the eyes of umpire Kev, in humid and somewhat sultry conditions, the visitors won the toss, elected to bat and scored a respectable total of 207 runs in 30 overs. Alas, the lawyers failed to defend this tally against a variable opposition whose bowling oscillated between the celes-tial and the abysmal but whose batting proved very reliable. When the proceedings closed it seemed like a close finish, the case could have been decided either way. Still, Captain Steve was never in doubt about the outcome. However, this game does not lend itself to a standard narrative; it stands out for some finer features of the trial which shall be mentioned in these minutes as follows.

Upon a certain code word, all Welshmen – whether in play or not – pulled a white card from their pockets and flagged it like a referee in an association football match. The last player to react was then condemned to lie flat on his back and wave with both hands and feet, thus cre-ating the impression of a beetle on his back. This proved particularly difficult for batting members of the team. The exact nature of the card was partly revealed after the match: It was a brief tour survival programme consisting essentially of addresses of Hamburg pubs (avoid dehydration), important German words and phrases like “noch ein Bier bitte” (hydrate) and “er interessiert sich nicht für Frauen” (avoid distraction), as well as some wonderful Welsh songs “to be sung upon request”. Unfortunately there is no photographic evidence of any of the Welshmen on his back so one has to rely on witnesses or hearsay in this respect.

Three THCC bowlers deserve special mention: Cam bowled his heart out, commencing with a maiden over, allowing only one run in each of his second and third overs and finally being rewarded for his tidy efforts with the best bowling average of the day. Jürgen got a fine wicket, too, with a surprise ball that edged to Steve at leg slip who held the awkward catch with one hand. And Christian took the most spectacular wicket all on his own, caught and bowled, the ball returning so fast to him that it reverberated from his hand before he could clinch it. Other bowlers, however, were less successful, allowing Swansea’s best batsman, T. Clayton, to reach an unbeaten half century, even permitting over 20 runs per over in spite of Rick’s reliable keeping performance.

THCC’s batting featured left handed Christian opening together with right handed Matthew, their solid start reaching almost 50 runs. Satish and Adrian, the weasel, followed suit expertly keeping the scoreboard ticking by running almost every ball and adding another 50 runs. Finally, big hitting Mark and George lashed out with 13 boundaries altogether until the target was within reach. Captain Steve had employed a flexible batting order, putting batsmen in and retiring them as he thought fit, which worked extremely well. When Jürgen missed a ball attempting another of his baseball-hits, the captain himself entered the crease and shifted the tally to within one run of winning in the penultimate over. A true sportsman, Steve then avoided a couple of wides at the end of the over so that the only club member who has con-tinuously worked on his scoop-shot this season was able to score the winning run with just that coup, much to the disgust of his coach.

So after both parties’ representatives had pleaded their cases, the decision was final: Swan-sea’s claim was thrown out. THCC had won another legitimate contest, fought according to the applicable laws, and, what is more, also to the spirit of the game. Needless to mention that everyone had got very thirsty. At last, after the necessary lubrication had been applied, the visitors were requested to entertain the home audience on the club house terrace with their Welsh songs which they did long into the balmy night.

Elbe Bowl 2014

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Elbe Bowl invite from Dresden came in as a gracious reminder from Dresden, after our ex-captain Su had initiated it few years back. Naturally, we were all charged up to get the bowl back and then started the planning for the trip. Doodles, car rentals, youth hostels, joins and drops were in plenty, but finally on a beautiful Saturday morning, 9 of us started towards Dresden.

Journey on autobahn as expected was uneventful, except for Jon and Christian wandering towards Göttingen instead of Magdeburg, but eventually we all reached at the same time.

We agreed on a 35 over match for Saturday, won the toss and decided to field (probably scared of batting first on an unknown wicket after Bremen match). Anyway, it looked like a good toss to win as Safiullah and Sandeep got plenty of swing to keep the run rate to a miserly 2 or 3 runs per over. Credit also goes to openers, who did not give away their wicket easily and first breakthrough came in close to 15th over, when the skipper bowled a fast (by his standards) straight ball. Satya claims that batsman could not see the ball, but others think the batsman probably missed the ball while aiming to deposit it in the Elbe. 2 quick wickets fell after that including the left handed patient opener who had made a 50, and we were back. Then came in Siva and we started the sequence of dropping catches. We kept feeding and he kept obliging and we kept dropping, this continued till he made a very aggressive 50 and took the score to 250+. Scores are scores, but it was hearty to see good keeping from Vinay and Mark; inspiring fielding from Jon and Silva; some thundering throws from Toufiq.

Lunch arrived with delicious Indian curries and we ate and then that’s it. 6 hr drive – 35 overs game – good food – next should be bed, but we had to bat. Vinay and Satya opened the whole season, but Satya was already sleeping, hence Christian agreed to step in. Soon Sandeep had to go in and Satya had to wake up. Well, to keep it short, we were all enticed to hit big shots by some delicious looking in swing bowls, only to realize after playing that either the ball hit the stump or we spooned it up. But, the MAN – Jon stood up to the good bowling and played with patience. It paid off, as he was the only one to enjoy the spinners later on. Michael scored his first run and the childish joy on his face was great to see. Finally, Bianca had to step in the score the remaining 200 odd runs, but Emily would not stay away long from her and she had to gift her wicket. That was the end of a good match played with good spirit and ended with good spirits (beer).

Evening was poker and street parties and pubs, with local guidance from Siva.
I am sure we all enjoyed! Sunday was rained off and it was a damp end to a lively tour.
Elbe bowl still with Dresden, and it has to come back to us in 2015 🙂

Report by Satya

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