With Vienna Cricket Club approaching its 40th anniversary it is time to take a look at some of the events down the years that have been part of the Club’s history. This article was originally sent out by e-mail in September 2011 to the members of the club – ten years on from the victory in Seebarn that was overshadowed by England beating Germany 5-1.
Today is the 10th anniversary of England’s 5-1 defeat of Germany in Munich, and many VCC players watched the rout in Erwin’s living room after an Open League match. For Vienna CC it is the 10th anniversary of winning all 10 Open League games in the group stage (the 2001 Open League saw an 11 team round robin – VCC, Concordia, Lords, Five Continents, United Nations, Pakistan, Pakistan Falken, Sri Lankan SC, Zagreb, Ljubljana and Velden). Paul Hudson’s 40* and 27 from Marco Celeghin were vital in getting us over the line in a low scoring game against our historic rivals (and sometimes perhaps our nemesis?) Concordia CC (now Austria CC Wien).
The VCC team that day was: Tim Simpson (capt), Zubair Chaudry, Michi Nedoma, Erwin Grasinger, Marco Celeghin, Paul Hudson, Amit Vij, Neil Foster, Thomas Grabetz, Heinz Dragosits (wk), Mike Bailey. Seven of the team have played this season – only Zubair, Amit, Thomas and Heinz have not graced Seebarn with an appearance for the team this season.
The Concordia CC team is unrecognisable to many. The Austrians Christian Kamin, Lex Mader, Robert Sturm, Werner Schnabl and Lukas Haider are memories only in yellowing scorebooks (all are no longer involved in Austrian cricket). Aman Deep is now back at Lords CC from whom Concordia poached him. Lakhmal Kasturiarachchige is still in the Austrian National Team, but swapped the urban zoo of the 22nd district for greener pastures in England. Farrakh Malik no longer plays, while Khurram Malik, “sconed” during his dismissal that day, only plays an occasional role with whichever Pakistani team he is currently with. Amir and Khan have both hung up their boots.
And what of the umpires – Shiv Shankar Dass and Sandeep Khanna? Sandeep is still playing for Lords CC while Shiv Shankar Dass was given an indefinite ban in 2003 for an act of violence against his fellow umpire on that day which was one of Austrian Cricket’s darkest days.
And who said nostalgia isn’t as good as it used to be?