Geneva Cricket Club 243ao in 36.4 overs (I.Haque 146, Z.Abdullrahizi 25; A.Kumar 8.0-3-29-3) beat Swiss Men’s Select XI 191ao (M.Martin 52, K.Rawat† 31; A.Shah 8.0-1-44-3) in 35.5 overs by 52 runs
Geneva won the 2021 David Barmes Memorial Trophy, Idrees Haque single handed guided his team to victory with a very impressive 146.
Traditionally the first game of the Swiss domestic season, in 2021 the David Barmes Memorial Trophy returned to the home ground of the person it is designed to remember.
The trophy returned to David Barmes’ home ground in Geneva for the first time since 2013. On that occasion, the Swiss Representatives XI beat Geneva XI Stars by 190 runs.
This year Geneva Cricket Club, as last season’s 40-over competition champions, had the honour of taking on a Swiss Representative XI consisting of representatives from clubs across Switzerland.
Match report
by Miriam Friedmann
Given David Barmes’ association with Geneva Cricket Club, and the fact that they had won the league and were the team to beat at the 2021 David Barmes Memorial Trophy Match, everyone was on tenterhooks. The immediate family of David Barmes were going to be in attendance, everything looked set for a wonderful game.
The weather tried, but failed to make a big impact on the game; lunch was taken early, so only three overs were lost per side due to the inclement weather.
The game got underway at 12 o’clock: Geneva cricket club against the Swiss League XI. Geneva won the toss and chose to bat on the Bout-du-Monde ground in Geneva. The opening partnership of Idrees Haque and the captain Anser Mahmood appeared to be getting off to the perfect start, when Idrees scored two boundaries off the first over, bringing the score to 10 for 0 wicket, however Tanmay from the Swiss League XI struck immediately with his first ball, getting Anser out first ball caught behind.
In the first 10 overs only 55 runs were scored, and wickets fell regularly, first Uddika for 7 and then Roshan for 2, so everything looked as if it could go either way. The next 10 overs were similarly even, with a further 56 runs being scored and 4 wickets got. Aneesh was the outstanding bowler in these first two spells, gaining 3 wickets for just 12 runs. Idrees played a careful and considered innings with some definite hard hitting with the bat and some very quick singles taken, and he was nearly at his 50.
Idrees continued in this vein, leaving good deliveries and punishing the bad balls reaching his 100 in the 27th over off 84 balls. He was ably supported by his whole team, but Lalantha in particular managed to stay with him for 9 overs and the highest partnership of the match of 71, followed by a feisty performance by the hard hitting Zahid, who scored 25 off 13 balls. Idrees was caught by a good catch from Lalit in the 37th over having scored 146.
After a short break, the Swiss League XI started their innings. They started slowly, scoring only 30 runs off the first 10 overs, the ball swinging prodigiously in the humid conditions, and they had only lost the wicket of Amal. The next 10 overs saw more runs and no more wickets, so the Swiss League XI still felt confident that they could pull through to win. Matthew played a very steady innings to gain 56 before he got out caught in the 27th over, ably supported by Leo Joseph, who helped increase the run rate by his quick running.
Kuldeep, the captain, joined the proceedings in the 27th over and used his power and confidence to hit boundaries and run quick singles. The ground was softer in the afternoon and the ball seemed to run less far for the Swiss League team.
Deesh, Aneesh and Mumtaz continued in the role of hard hitters, scoring some boundaries and running the singles, but unfortunately for them it was too little too late and with the final wicket of Floris falling in the 36th over for 2 runs, the Swiss League XI had to admit defeat.
The bowling and fielding from the determined and confident Geneva side was good throughout, with Ali ending with figures of 44 for 3 and Zahid with 45 for 2. In the Swiss League XI there were also some strong bowling and fielding performances with Mumtaz going for 54 for 2 and Aneesh for 29 for 3 off their 8 overs, and Lalit holding 2 catches. The memorable performance of the game has to go to Idrees for his 146 runs, hitting the first and last balls of their innings.
Geneva were presented with the cup by David Barmes’ son straight after the game.
Follow the game live
The 2021 David Barmes Memorial Trophy was scored live on cricHQ!
The teams
Dr. David Barmes
The late Dr. David Barmes of Geneva C.C. was the first President of the National Association and served in that capacity for 10 years. In honour of his memory, Cricket Switzerland has continued a tradition that the winners of the league championship play a 40 over cricket match against the Swiss national team, marking the beginning of the season and for the prestige of winning the David Barmes Memorial Trophy.
More information
Further information on this fixture is available direct from the Swiss National Team coach Chris Lodge or from Asvin Lakkaraju.
