Well, what a week it’s been for Berlin CC. Having qualified easily for the second round of this year’s ODCV T20 league, losing only one game to archrivals Rehberge (or DSSC if you prefer), we joined the other Berlin clubs down in Dresden for a week-long carnival of T10 cricket. The whole event takes place at venues around Europe throughout the summer and is broadcast live on YouTube. More info on their website here.
We won 7 of our 8 matches in the first round to top Group B going in to finals day.
In our semi-final we came up against old friends and tournament hosts, Dresden. Bowling first, Imran led the charge conceding just 14 runs and taking 2 wickets in his 12 balls. The rest of the wickets were spread around, so a strong all-round performance with the ball meant Dresden struggled to make inroads, ending up with just 85 for 9 wickets from their 10 overs.
Berlin started well with the bat and despite a wobble in the middle overs, came back to finish strong with Awais and Sahil putting on 33 in just 2 overs to wrench the momentum back our way.
In the end we won the semi-final easily with 5 balls to spare.
So, on to the final where we met Britannia who we’d beaten twice in the group round – admittedly once by default because they couldn’t get a team to the ground on time. This time, Britannia won the toss and decided to bat first on a moist pitch with plenty of sawdust. Despite starting well, Berlin couldn’t keep up their good form, with a number of chances going down and an extraordinary ‘recall’ of their batsman Panjwani who was stumped by a mile having walked past a ball from Karan. Britannia complained that the bowler had tape on his fingers and it should therefore have been called a no ball. Remarkably, the umpires upheld the ‘appeal’ and the batsman was allowed to continue.
So, Britannia ended up posting 109 for 7. In reply, Berlin lost wickets at regular intervals and struggled to cope with the scoreboard pressure. After 4 overs, we’d slumped to 22 for 6. Ivan and Manish put on 28 in the last 4 overs to give our score a sheen of respectability. But sadly, there was no coming back and Berlin CC finished Runners Up at their first ever outing in the European Cricket Series in Dresden.
Congratulations to all the players who took part. You all put in an excellent performance and can be proud of what you have achieved. Berlin CC played the tournament in an excellent spirit and we are all looking forward to getting our revenge next year.
All photos by kind permission of ECN. Photographer is @diana_oros.
Addendum: BSV have denied that they ‘complained’ about the protection on the bowler’s finger which led to the recall of batsman Panjwani. They say the decision was taken solely by match referee Robert Kemming. We are still unable to find any stipulation in the ECS playing conditions that a ball bowled by a bowler wearing protection on his fingers should be deemed a no ball. Law 28.1 of the MCC Laws of Cricket merely states that “…protection for the hand or fingers may be worn only with the consent of the umpires”.
Berlin Cricket Club 