Deutscher Cricket Bund

The first ever inter-school, youth cricket match took place on the Maifeld recently as hordes
of enthusiastic parents looked on. In perfect late season conditions, the Berlin British School
won the toss and elected to bowl first despite the blustery weather. Their opponents, a team
of 8-to-11-year-olds from the Quentin Blake School, were overflowing with enthusiasm at the
chance to play outdoors on a ‘proper’ cricket pitch.

The Quentin Blake Crickets got off to a steady start but lost regular wickets throughout their
20-over innings, finally closing on 98. The age-old adage that ‘catches win matches’ was
certainly true in this game, as seven of QBC’s wickets were caught in the field.

Berlin British School started slowly, losing a few early wickets, but once their nerves had
settled they moved up a gear and were soon striking the ball to all parts of the ground. In the
end, BBS emerged clear winners despite some accurate bowling and superb ground fielding
by QBC.

We were honoured to have German National team player and former Berlin CC member,
André Leslie, give a short speech of encouragement during the innings break. André said, “For
me, it was certainly good fun to have a quick word with the kids between the innings and see
their enthusiasm for the sport!”

Organisers were especially pleased that so many parents and family members had turned out
to cheer their teams on and it was a real delight to see so many children enjoying the highs
and lows of a hard-fought game of cricket. Quentin Blake School team trainer and parent,
Louise Tweedale said, “We hope this will be the first of many youth cricket matches to be
played on the Maifeld – eventually leading to a proper league being contested by several
schools in the Berlin area.” Berlin Cricket Club is proud to be associated with the Quentin
Blake School, providing weekly cricket training for children aged 8-to-11 years.

Report: Martin Haynes, Berlin CC