France to relive Olympic glory, Denmark's season ahead and news from Switzerland

France will play an historic Olympic commemorative match against an 'old England XI' side comprises of former Test players at Sussex's new county ground at Hastings on August 20.

The game will celebrate cricket's only ever appearance as an Olympic sport during the 1900 Paris Olympics.

Great Britain won the two-innings match against France on August 19, 20, 1900 by 158 runs, leaving France as cricket's Olympic silver medallist for at least the next 100 years.

Robin Marlar, the distinguished journalist and former Sussex chairman, suggested the match - and venue, after the MCC turned down France's offer of a commemorative fixture.

Meanwhile, 2000 will be a busy year for France at both national and junior levels. The senior side has received a strict winter training schedule from coach Bobby Parks. The players will face a battery of physical tests at their first training weekend in February, before heading to Malta in March for a week's pre-season preparation. Fixtures are slated with Switzerland, Belgium, Luxembourg and Natal Schools. France wll then travel to England for a series of friendlies against northern league sides prior to the European Nations Championship in Glasgow in July.

A smooth AGM in Bordeaux just before Christmas was attended by representatives of a record 28 of France's 34 registered clubs. It unanimously approved the new France Cricket constitution, consolidating links with the State-run Federation Francaise de Baseball, Softball & Cricket, which provided cricket with a pd20,000 subsidy in 1999. Didier marchois was re-elected President of France Cricket for a further two-year stint.

12-year-old wicket-keeper batsman, Mathieu Royant, from Chauny in Picardy, earned rave reviews at the European Cricket Council's youth coaching course near London from December 16-20. England Under 19 coach, Tim Boon, called Royant "a little gem", while the Daily Telegraph envisaged a professional future for Royant in England. Royant made his debut for the French national senior side in Denmark last August and French national coach, ex-Hampshire wicket-keeper, Bobby Parks, considers him "as good as any young player I've seen."

France's Under-16 side has been invited to take part in the prestigeous Isle of Wight Youth Festival in August, competing against Essex and Gloucestershire, plus seven English minor counties. The French Under 11s will be competing in the Kent eight-a-side Kwik Cricket Festival at Canterbury in July.

No shortage of challenges for Denmark in 2000

Denmark faces several challenges in the coming year. As a build up to the coming European Championships in Scotland in July, Denmark will be taking part in a winter tournament in Zimbabwe, together with strong nations as Ireland, Kenya, Scotland, Holland and the host Zimbabwe.

For the Danes the important task is breaking in new young players who have not much internatinel experience. Since the last B-World Cup [ICC Tarophy] in Malaysia, Denmark has lost five to six key players who are hard to replace. It is necessary therefore that the Danish team plays as many matches on possible on grass in preparation to the Scotish pitches. We can only hope that we have a continued mild winter so that our famous unused grass pitch at Brøndby can be used for the first time before being dug up and moved to a new location. In order to retain the heavy sponsorship from the Danish Sports Association it is imperative to get a good result in Scotland so the challenge is there and Ole Mortensen knows this.

Denmark will be like last year be taking part in the NatWest Trophy in England in May and the luck of the draw has meant that Denmark play their first match in the second round on May 16th.

The under-19 team will be going on a development tour to South Africa in February to get some hairs on their chest, as they failed to qualify to the World Cup. They will be playing six matches against strong provincial sides under the leadership of Ole Mortensen and Peter Palle Klokker. The team of 13 will be picked shortly.

The Danish Development Committee wishes all internet cricket fans a Happy New Year and hopefully a better cricket year for Denmark.

Switzerland will play internationals against France and Austria next summer, while a Swiss XI will meet Javea in Spain.

It will firstly host France at Geneva on May 20 and 21 before playing Austria in June (venue and date to be fixed). The Swiss XI will travel to Spain in October.

The Durham Friendship Festival 2000 takes place in the U.K. from July 29th to August 6th and the 'Swiss Alpenhorn' team will be amongst those playing. This not an official Swiss side but a team made up of club players from members of the SCA. Some players are Swiss some are Commonwealth expatriates.

The Swiss team to participate in the European Under-28s Indoor, Six-a-side competition taking place in Javea in Spain (near Alicante) on February 12th and 13th is as follows (there is a maximum eight Swiss-born players in the party):

T.Brink (Capt.)(Berne), M.Dreschner (Zuoz), A.Bühler (Winterthur), T.Bowler (Winterthur), M.Barone (Geneva), J.von Tobel (Zuoz), M.von Hohenzollern (Zuoz), M.Singenberger (Zuoz). Coach J. Boshoff (Basle). Team Manager: G. Hart (Zuoz). Also travelling is John McKillop (Cossonay) as S.C.A. President and interpreter given that we have a mixture of languages (F/G + English) amongst the party.

The Swiss Cricket Association domestic season gets underway on April 30 but the exact composition of the league will not be known until after the AGM given that applications for membership have been recieved from clubs currently outside the SCA.