Berlin Cricket Club

I think the Good, the Bad and the Ugly sums up this season:

The Good: 

Our season was a very good one. How so? We progressed from a one-team to a two-team show (three teams if we include the bonus of our regular slot in the 20-20s on Friday evenings). This represents a major step forward for a small club like ours and must make us unique in Germany at least.

Moving forward so fast and perhaps expanding too swiftly has meant stretching our capacities to the limit so results have not always lived up to expectations.

This is particularly true of the two disappointing results in the key play-off games.

All in all though, a lot was achieved and there were plenty of exciting, quality games - and others we'd rather forget. But we never denied ourselves the usual socializing afterwards – not only good for digesting the game won or lost but also an opportunity to spread the BCC goodwill a little further at home and abroad. In the process we moved to a new watering hole, Gambrinus, where certain members of this illustrious club (Sean, Andy, Yoshan, Sam & Co spring to mind) have already enjoyed all night sessions and got up to God knows what afterwards. It is also the place where our first mascot is on display – a wooden toucan - spoils from the nail-biter against Dresden (which we won by two runs – Nick scored 79 and Yosh bowled that incredible last over finishing with 18 for 3 off 7). Cricket came home that day.

There were many games where both teams put up good performances and made the best of what God had given them, which was not always what the captains wanted. But good captains can bring out the best in a team and I have to say that Martin and Foxy did very well given the new situation of two teams with players vying for spots in the 1^st and not always willing to play for the 2^nds.

This last point is not a very good reflection of some players' maturity and demonstrates a failure to grasp, even now, the basic idea behind the two team structure.

For the sake of repetition: when you have 30 odd players you do what clubs all over the world do: make two teams and put the best players in the 1^st team and the rest in the 2^nd (maybe we should call them BCC A instead).

For this reason the teams can never be equal, as some wrongly seem to think they should be. Because we play in the same league there are certain restrictions which restrict a player from playing twice against the same opposition.

This is not a real problem, it just requires the right organization and captains keeping a track of who played when.

If a player plays well in the 2^nds he will naturally be picked for the 1^sts; there is no question of him being "stolen" from the 2^nds as someone put it.

One thing is important to remember: the 1^st team always has priority over the 2^nd. The 2^nd team is a feeder for the 1^st. Why people cannot understand this is beyond me. But so is quantum physics.

And why certain people want to move from playing with the top players in the 1^st team to play in the 2^nds also makes me wonder whether I've been living on another planet, or on this one too long. A year ago we had no second team and people rightfully complained. Now we have one (a second team) and some are turning up their noses and saying they don't want to play if they can't play in the first team. There's no pleasing some people is all I can say. Wouldn't it be better to swallow your pride and turn out for the 2^nd team and help them win!! Any other attitude is so negative. By not playing you are weakening the side and making defeat all the more certain - and lessening your chances of moving up to the first team.

The tours went off very well, especially the UK visit to HAC, which was a once in a lifetime occasion for all who were lucky enough to be present and play at that magnificent ground.

There was an excellent atmosphere throughout the tour. As usual it went off without any serious hitches, thanks mainly to outstanding preparation by David. He even arranged for special food (well, English breakfast certainly is something special) and a separate BCC queue at the breakfast counter. Being a perfectionist, David was often spotted tearing out his hair (and later downing a few pints) at his frustration over latecomers and late risers and having to put up with the usual dimwits who forget any information about 3 millisecs after hearing it. But he did a grand job as shepherd and tour guide and produced some interesting gifts to present to our hosts – as did Steffen (there was an immediate scuffle to grab a precious bottle of his special hemp brew).

HAC and Erith are very hospitable people and great fun to visit (esp. after the let down of Stansted in 2006), and (like Foxy in the shower) they took their lickings manfully.

The 2^nd Division (2.Liga) i.e. the Friday 20-20 games, have developed into a fun occasion; everyone gets match practice, especially those who don't (yet) qualify for the 1^st and 2^nd teams. It is also an opportunity to play other teams like the British Embassy and Dresden and Schwerin (2008). Despite being at the receiving end of some unruly sledging by a couple of our lads, who obviously watch too much Test Cricket, the British Embassy enjoy our games and are always good for a beer during and after the game, so they're ok in my book.

Dresden, by the way, claim to have a new home ground and are desperate to play in the Berlin league. Something for discussion.

It was also good to see Siva, Ashwin and Nilay finally come out of the cold and take their places in a proper club. They gave us some useful input and new angles on the game. A shame one or two of them will not be around in 2008.

Our membership grew in 2007 by about 50%. This is something to be proud of. We continue to count about 8 or so different nationalities among our active players, and have the beginnings of a youth section.

2008 diary:

MCC are coming to Berlin in Spring to celebrate 20 years of the DCB. This will not touch BCC as far as playing is concerned – maybe one or two of us for a joint Berlin team, but that's all.  It also means more work for me.

Scorebox

For some time I have been pushing and pushing for something to be done to save the scorebox from collapsing and now it seems that my pleas have finally been heard.

The scorebox is being restored. As far as I know the whole front is being renewed and the roller blind replaced. Lighting, a clock and electricity are being installed too as well as new slots for the existing scoring system. We're not having to pay for any of this; put it down to good relations between the BCK and the Stadium people.

Otherwise it will be the same as usual this year: league games, two BCC teams, League cup at the start of the season, playoffs at the end and the possibility of a touring team or two coming to Berlin and a tour somewhere. These last items will be a topic at the AGM.

Rumours of a softball league have also been going round. I believe the intention here is to attract people who would then move on to cricket. Games will be played outside cricket times.  

And of course there's our proposed Grand Tour to India in Jan 2009.

The search for an alternative ground goes on. Nick has been busy here and will say more about it at the meeting. He has passed the info on to me as he will be away for part of 2008. It would be good if someone could take up where he left off.

So it's thanks to Nick for that, thanks to David for the well-organized tours, thanks to Martin and Foxy and Nick and Sean for guiding the teams through an eventful season and a special thanks to Martin and Paul for their patient committee work and the enjoyable committee meetings. Paul is a newcomer to the club (though he's been hanging around for years) and jumped in at the deep end when he took over the treasurer's position. I hope the general chaos doesn't frighten him away.  

Andy deserves our undying gratitude for getting us the indoor facility once again. And last but not least, thanks to our man on the web Trevor for persevering with the website despite having little or no input from us. This is one area marked down for change in 2008.     

BCK

I now have a regular place on the BCK committee. This means we have a direct influence on what decisions are made in future (some were pretty hairy last year).

I was more or less press-ganged into this and though I don't mind doing it, it means that I will have less time for BCC (two jobs in Berlin cricket is suicidal).

For this reason I would be quite happy to let someone else take over as President when the new committee is elected at the AGM.

Alternatively I will pass on some of my duties to the Vice President or, alternatively, suggest the creation of a Club Secretary. So whoever wants to take on one of these jobs this year should be aware of the work it entails. With a bit of organization I can't see this being be a problem though. If I am re-elected President I will accept the job under these conditions.

I believe any President should be free to concentrate his efforts on matters which affect the club's future and increase its importance in German cricket i.e. working with the BCK and the DCB, finding a new ground, sponsors, improving our image outside the club (website, advertising, merchandizing, etc), and in general, planning a few years ahead. At the moment I seem to spend most of my time chasing money from sluggish payers, registering new players, ordering kit, organizing match days, and doing most of the work when touring teams visit (s.below).

I'm convinced that with a vice president, a tour manager, a treasurer, two captains and two vice captains, and a selection committee of three, some of these duties can be shared more efficiently.

That was the Good now for:

The Bad :

If Burkhard and Co (BCK) can regularly weep at the thought of another year running the BCK, I feel justified in mentioning a couple of areas where there's still room for improvement in BCC. One of these is club involvement. I will quote just one example.

The Crusaders visit.

I know we don't have a pavilion and the proper facilities for doing on the spot catering, etc, but I am often depressed at the lack of moral and practical support when it comes to putting on a show for guests or even for ourselves. Too many of us don't help off the field though we're pretty loud when things are not in place or go wrong, and a lot of us seem to think that things like food and drink and gifts and tents appear as if by magic.

I spent weeks preparing for the Crusaders event not encouraged by the fact that half the committee and the Captain and VC and Tour Manager were away (which was OK, but unfortunate), but it meant that I also had to put together a team, stand in as captain and see to all the catering, tent hire (a good few hours on the internet alone), etc.

I then spent one whole day erecting the damned thing and another two - mainly at night - keeping it from blowing away because some spiteful person spent the same two days removing the ropes and weights I had put in place to prevent it from being blown to Potsdam. This alone was 3 days of my valuable time.

No one else was available to help, though there was some support at the end of the day. The only person who contributed to the food was Peter (Leonard's dad) and he wasn't even a member of the club at the time...

Apart from having to find someone else to do the catering, it also costs the club money (s. financial report). In the end, it was only the sudden calm weather on match day that saved our bacon; the weather was great and it turned out to be a very enjoyable day and the visitors were full of praise for the do we (or rather, I) put on.

The Crusaders game was not a good club effort and was the main reason why I absented myself from the Banbury games. It is also the reason why I have not pushed David to book visiting teams to Berlin in 2008.

and the Ugly

Who else?  Those ******* who keep us from using their pavilion.

Summary

BCC is now in its 28^th year and me being the only person in the whole wide world to have played in all those 28 years I can safely claim the right to be BCC's longest standing member (just in front of Volker). It also puts me in the unique position to say just what this interesting microcosm of personalities and cultures that we call BCC means to me.

From a personal point of view, it has kept me from straying to the straight and narrow, and probably prevented me going blind prematurely or being forced to take up stamp collecting or train spotting. In a broader sense the club continues to expand and has already made its mark in Berlin cricket, being the best known and most popular club far and wide with the best bunch of blokes on and off the field.

It can only be a matter of time before we get our hands on that magic crown and earn ourselves the chance to go for the German championships.  

For me the creation of our two teams has been the most far-reaching event in the club and probably in Berlin cricket (apart from my 44 not out against MCC, but modesty forbids … !!).  

It's not always about winning. We should now put the disappointments of 2007 behind us and look forward to enjoying the coming season and making it a successful one – for both teams.

Your honourable President