Swiss Cricket 2013 domestic competitions review

The SCA's Competition chariman, Mr. Abraham Koshy, presnts a review of the 2013 Swiss Cricket season.

The 2013 SCA cricket season was overall a success. The Pickwick T20 Cup was finished on time, the league with a slight delay due to weather related reschedulings..

Twelve teams took part in the 2013 40 over league which had 2 divisions (7 Western, 5 Eastern). 36 matches were scheduled in total, 33 in the qualification round and 3 in the knockout phase).
In spite of setbacks due to weather the competition was completed on 13th of October.
The final was held in Cossonay. Bern C.C from the Western Region and Olten C.C from the Eastern Region contested the League Championship. Alex Mackay and Shahzad Muzzafar officiated the finals.
Our thanks are extended to both Olten C.C & Bern C.C  who took care of the lunch, which was par excellence. Thank you also to all the members of Cossonay CC for hosting the finals and preparing the ground.
Olten C.C. and Bern C.C. played an entertaining game of cricket and the game looked going Bern's way  but an 8th wicket partnership for Olten changed the whole game. Olten C.C went on to win the thrilling final and became the SCA league champion for the first time.
Congratulations to both Bern C.C and Olten CC for providing an excellent and competitive final.
The scores: Bern C.C were all out for 176 runs in 36.2. overs and in reply Olten C.C made 179 for 9 in 36.2 overs. Olten C.C won by 1 wkt.

The Mr Pickwick T20 Cup tournament took on a new level and for the first time prize money was introduced. Eleven teams participated in the Pickwick T20 Cup competition.
Thanks to our sponsors Mr. Jon Southworth (Gastrag) & Mr Saleem Awan who was gracious enough to donate CHF 2000 prize money.
The finals for this year was between Cossonay CC and Bern CC. The final was held in Winterthur on 06th Oct. 2013. The officiating umpires were Shahzad Muzzafar and Alex Mackay.
Cossonay C.C won the toss and elected to bat and were all out 87 in 19.3 overs. In reply Bern made 87 all out in 16.5 overs. This was the first occasion in the history of Pickwick Cup that the finals ended in a draw. The cup and prize money were shared between the teams as we had two winners.

In 2013, clubs registered their players at the beginning of the season. However individual registrations were permitted until Aug. 2012 (completion of League phase). The count of active  players has gone up and most clubs have found new players which is very positive.

Match results, fixtures and umpire allotments were updated regularly. A big thank you to Alex Mackay for updating the website and also updating the results and changes whenever required.

2013 wasn't the best year from a disciplinary perspective. The following incidents were reported and dealt with by the league committee during 2013:

• Player awarded level 3 offence (3 official match suspension)
• Captain of the same Team awarded level 4 offence and suspended for the rest of the season 2013
• Same team forfeiting a match ( Forfeit means 0 points and carries 10 negative points into 2014 League
• League finals. Player held responsible for a level 1 offence – was awarded a one match suspended ban and will be placed on disciplinary watch for season 2014.

As part of a closed-season initiative to clarify some points of the league rules and separate 40 over and 20 over formats, a review of the code of conduct with plans to specify penalties for level one offences is planned. The goal is to make things clear as the association moves towards a zero tolerance policy for on & off-field behavioural issues.  

The new points system had its teething problems, but overall, it encouraged playing of cricket.. The eastern league finished very close with just one point separating the teams. The Competitions' Committee take this opportunity to acknowledge the understanding of Nomads Cricket Club in what was a great disappointment for them. 
Finally, we  thank the clubs, umpires, scorers from sFOCUS and all others who helped to run the domestic competitions smoothly.

Wishing you all the very best for the new season 2014,

Abraham Koshy
On behalf of Competitions League Committee