Deutscher Cricket Bund Club Championship finals (3 Sep 1999)

2 September 1999

Deutscher Cricket Bund Club Championship finals

Two clubs in their first year in existence will feature in the Deutscher Cricket Bund Club Championship finals to be decided in Munich next weekend (September 4 & 5).

Southern League winner, Bavarian C.C., and North Rhine Westphalia title holder SV Weiden have capped remarkable debut seasons by qualifying for the national semi-finals to be played this Saturday. .

Reigning German and Eastern League champion, DSSC Berlin, meets Bavarian C.C. (Munich) while SV Weiden takes on Pak Alemi (North League champion) with the winners meeting on Sunday.

DSSC Berlin was given automatic qualification for the semi-finals thanks to its 1998 national title win, while SV Weiden gained entry after knocking out the South-West League champion, Frankfurt C.C., in a high scoring play-off game: Frankfurt C.C. 307 all-out (Ayub Pasha 62; A.Dar 9-1-28-7) lost to SV Weiden 310-7 (38.3 overs) (Z.Butt 62 n.o., Javed 60, Absal 53, A.Dar 49) by three wickets.

For Bavarian C.C. and Pak Alemi, the route to Munich was far more adventurous. Bavarian C.C. defeated Pak Alemi in Fallingbostel in a rain-affected, overs-reduced match. A protest was lodged and the match was then awarded to Pak Alemi. The loss meant Bavarian C.C. faced a home play-off against Frankfurt C.C., the loser of the play-off match. Frankfurt C.C. did not turn up and Bavarian C.C. won the game on a walk-over.

DSSC Berlin must start favourite for the title, which it has won for the past two years. It has experience on its side, a formidable batting line-up going right down the order, and in S.Amir, one of the fastest bowlers in the country.

The novelty of the occasion, however, could well bring out the best in Bavarian C.C., which has home advantage. Captain, Waleed Basit, is an all-rounder capable of turning any game. The other semi-final features two clubs making their debuts in the national semi-finals. While Pak Alemi has been competing for several years, this is the first time it has advanced to the semi-finals. It will look to German international, Zaheer Ahmed, reputedly the fastest bowler in the country. SV Weiden, despite being in its debut year, has an experience in its side, including German internationals, A.Dar and Saeed Mohammed.

With its obvious advantage in experience, DSSC Berlin, stands out as favourite.

Thanks to Brian Fell.

Keith Thompson provides this detailed report on the second half of the Northern League season:

On July 4th Goettingen travelled to Fallingbostel for their return match with Pak Alemi. Goettingen won the toss and elected to bat, but the controlled outswing bowling of Zaheer Ahmed proved their undoing as he ripped through the top order. Despite sturdy resistance from Ayoma Abeyawickrama in the middle order, the Goettingen innings petered out for a mere 90 with Zaheer finishing with 4 for 14 from 8 overs. Pak Alemi never looked in trouble in scoring the required total for the loss of five wickets.

July 4th also saw Alster travel to Goettingen for their return match with Kassel. Alster won the toss and batted, scoring a respectable total of 184 from 50 overs. Gary Edwards top-scored with a hard-hitting 46 in the lower middle-order. Once again Kassel had no answer to Alster's pace attack, and Dilip Nair finished with 4 for 16 from 9 overs as Kassel crumbled to a total of 61 all out.

The following week Alster and Goettingen came face to face for their long-awaited return match in Hamburg. Still smarting from their early season humiliation, Goettingen bowled and fielded like tigers as Alster batted first. Bob Whitelaw, coming in at number three, scored a stylish and accomplished 37 but enjoyed little support from his teammates as Alster slumped to 115 all out in a mere 32 overs. Ayoma Abeywickrama and Dhushan Ekanayake both enjoyed four-wicket hauls. The Goettingen reply was in trouble from the start and despite a robust 41 from captain Ed Cargill, Alster were looking the favourites until the ever-defiant Jaye Vijakumar steered the visitors home with a well-judged blend of wild aggression and stonewall defence. Mark Richardson was the pick of the Alster bowlers with 4 for 14 off 10 overs.

Also on July 11th Bremen travelled to Goettingen to take on Kassel. Batting first, Kassel once again could not come to terms with the bowling standards in the North German league, and offered little resistance in amassing a meagre 72 from 32 overs. In particular the leg-spin of Sami Niese proved to them as unfathomable as Shane Warne's is to England, Sami taking 6 for 17 off 10 overs. Bremen knocked off the runs with few alarms in 15 overs.

The eagerly-awaited top-of-the-table clash between Pak Alemi and Bremen finally took place on July 25th in Fallingbostel. Winning the toss and choosing to bat, the Bremen innings was soon in deep trouble as they encountered Zaheer Ahmed bowling at his unplayable best. Taking 5 for 25 off 8 straight overs, Zaheer single-handedly destroyed the Bremen innings, and left them in the seemingly hopeless position of being bowled out for 68 in 24 overs. However Bremen were not unbeaten for nothing and hit back with devastating effect thanks to a superb opening spell of 5 for 25 off 7 overs by Asif Malik whose off-cutters were proving equally unplayable as Zaheer's outswing. The Pak Alemi innings was split wide open and never recovered.

After a mere 19 overs the seemingly impossible had happened and Bremen had achieved a memorable victory by five runs.

Also on July 25th Kassel took on Goettingen for the second time in the season. The Kassel innings once again faltered with all-too predictable familiarity and 24 overs saw them all out for 80 with Naeem Misdaq taking 4 for 15 off 6 overs. Goettingen were never in trouble as Glen Reid hit 48 in seeing them home for the loss of 3 wickets after 17 overs.

On August 1st Pak Alemi travelled to Goettingen to face Kassel for the first time in the season. Batting first Pak Alemi stuttered to 168 all out off 36 overs with only Zaheer Ahmed showing any real fluency in a fine knock of 43.

In reply the Kassel innings appeared to be going the way of all other Kassel innings until the arrival at the crease of Saleem Afzal. Playing in only his first match of the season he set about the attack with verve and gusto and was last out for a fine 35 in an all out total of 87 off 22 overs.

Alster played their final match of the season on August 1st against Bremen in Hamburg's Horner Rennbahn. Fresh from their triumph over Pak Alemi the previous week, Bremen went after the Alster attack from the very first over, relishing the relatively small Horner Rennbahn boundaries. Irfan Bashir made 70 and Zafar Iqbal 72 as Bremen smashed their way to 270 all out off 41 overs. The damage might have been much worse had Jens Kruse not come on to bowl late in the innings. Taking 5 for 38 off 6 overs, Jens' cleverly flighted deliveries had the Bremen batsmen in so many minds as to where to hit them that they frequently failed to hit them at all. Faced with such a daunting target, Alster made a spirited start with Mark Campbell and Bob Whitelaw sharing an early partnership. In the end however they fell for 132 off 31 overs.

The scene was thus set for the very last match of the season: the second meeting of the two top teams, Bremen and Pak Alemi. The situation was clear: whoever won, would win the league. Poor organisation led to the late arrival of the Pak Alemi team at Bremen's ground, with the result that they went into bat with an allocation of only 36 overs. Things looked bad as they slumped to 49 for 4, but then captain Rashid Mohammad strode out to join Intikhab Hussain at the crease. Treating the Bremen bowling with casual disdain, Rashid smashed 84 in quick time enabling Pak Alemi to reach the respectability of 183 off 30 overs. In reply Bremen lost early wickets until Zafar Iqbal joined Mohammad Shabbaz at the crease. Shabbaz played an innings of rare class and with Zafar displaying hitting of raw power, the two looked likely to win the match. A run-out saw the end of Zafar and when Shabbaz failed to pick Intikhab's googly, Pak Alemi were back in the match. The last wickets fell and Pak Alemi had won another memorable encounter by 28 runs.

This was indeed a fitting climax to the season, and although Pak Alemi and Bremen were locked on 56 playing points each, the bonus points awarded to Pak Alemi for playing an under 19 German national saw them retain their title with a total of 63 points to Bremen's 56. Third place went to Goettingen with 37 points, Alster were fourth with 24 points and Kassel brought up the rear with one point. We now await Pak Alemi's progress in the club championship finals with interest.