The Optimists Annual Awards Dinner was held on Friday evening at the New Delhi restaurant in Gasperich.
Following a delicious Indian buffet meal, Robert Deed, Club President, welcomed everyone and presented a brief review of 2015 and looked forward to 2016. Last year, the highlights for the Optimists Cricket Club (OCC) were that it won the Belgian league second division with 7 victories in 8 matches; this achievement was helped by a number of important contributions from many in the club. He also recalled that a large number of OCC players were on the Luxembourg team that participated in, and won, the Intercontinental cup played in Romania during the year.
Looking forward, 2016 is the club's 40th anniversary, a significant milestone in the club's history, and one he described as a great achievement. He stressed that it takes a lot of efort to help keep the club going and thanked everyone for their involvement and support. To celebrate the club's 40th anniversary the committee is thinking of planning a celebration on the Saturday of the junior tournament, provisionally 23 July. He also mentioned a planned reorganisation of the club committee during the coming year.
Concerning the club's future in the Belgian league, he explained that the Belgian Sports Ministry has enacted a rule that the top flight of the league is confirmed to Belgian clubs, meaning that the Optimists will not be promoted to Division 1 despite winning Division 2. Despite this disappointment, he said that there ore other clubs wors off as a result, in that they have now been relegated. This year (2016), the top three divisions in the Belgian league will each have six teams, with each league seeing each team
playing the others twice, home and away.
AWARDS (based on more than one innings)
- Batting Award: Timothy Barker (collected by his brother James)
- Bowling Award: Mike West (who boeled 42 overs in 10 matches)
- All-Rounder Award: Taral Desai
- Best Fielder Award: Bichitra Sahoo (wicket-keeper)
- Best Performance Award: Saransh Kulshrestha (for his performance in the Belgian league)
- Club Member Award: Graham Cope (for his many years of service including the ground, coaching, planning, maintaining machinery, etc.)
Cricket in Luxembourg has around 130 registered players, including around 100 juniors and 20 women players. The Optimists Cricket Club is one of many in the Grand Duchy, the others being the Communities, Star, Optimists Maidens, All Inclusive (formerly Arcelor) and Metz which particiaptes in the Luxembourg leagues.
In 2015 the Optimists Cricket Club participated in the Luxembourg league and the Belgian league (where they won the 2nd division) and the Intercontinental Cup in Romania. In total they play around 50 games each year, a mix of 45-over matches and Twenty20 formats.
The Luxembourg season normally starts around Easter and concludes in September-October; during the winter an indoor league operates, with 8 teams including some corporate teams.
Photos by Geoff Thompson
