Young talented cricketers from NRW show their skills

Young talented cricketers from NRW show their skills
Category: Cricket News Cricket News
By: Criq Presse, Bonn

[Translate to English:] NRW Cricket Jugend Meisterschaft, Bonn 2012

On 30. September, the 2012 NRW Youth Cricket Championship was held in Bonn. On a fine, sunny day the best young cricket players Nordrhein Westfalen in Germany met to compete for the regional titles at U16 and U18 levels.
The teams taking part in these finals were Bonn VCC Youth (Coach: Raymond Cooray), ASV-Koeln (Coach: Andrew Schou), St Georges School Cologne (Coach: Richard Burns) and the CXCC of Xenia SV Cologne (coach: Neil Townsend).

On the day, the performances of all of these young players was very impressive and no doubt some of them will go on to represent Germany at international level in the future. However, in the end, the talent and experience of the young CXCC (Xenia SV) players proved too much for the other teams. Under captain Laiqat Salarzie (16), they won all their U16 games with Hasan Zaidi (16), a very talented young left-arm pace bowler, picking up the prize for best batsman, while another left-hander, Namen of ASV collected the bowling title this time. Also worthy of mention were the fine all-round performances from Stean of St Georges and young Liam Schou of ASV.

In the U18 category, the reigning NRW U17 champions CXCC (Xenia SV) took on a combined team of the best players from the other teams. With the planned T20 game reduced to 16 overs, the CXCC team were invited to chase 71-8. CXCC U18 captain, Noormohammad Niyazi (17) opened the innings with Yaqoob Khan (17) and made a quick 39 not out before retiring to let teammate Robbie Singh (18) have a knock. The target was swiftly reached in 6 overs without loss, leaving the CXCC to walk off with both titles. Noormohammad Niyazi also claimed the awards for best player and best batsman with teammate Hamdard collecting the best U18 bowler prize.

The participants expressed their thanks and appreciation to the NRW Youth Officer, Raymond Cooray who with the assistence of his Bonn VCC teammates, coordinated the event. Thanks also went to the team coaches, sponsors Dortmund CC and Ravi Navaratnam along with Xenia SV Cologne and Sri Lankan Airlines and last but not least, Tahir Rana, Nadeem Abassi and George Lawson, scorers Shantha and Anja as well as all the others for their support on the day.

The players themselves deserve credit not only for their performances on the field but also in the way in which they conducted themselves, demonstrating the many other sporting values which cricket at its best has to offer.

Youth cricket development in this region of Germany is flourishing and with a number of the youngsters already making a mark at senior level, the future looks very bright for cricket in Germany.