History of Cricket in Switzerland

The first President was the late Dr. David Barmes (remembered today by an annual memorial trophy) of Geneva C.C. and Mr. Roger Johnson (of the same club) the first Secretary.

Mr. Brennan, the then Australian Ambassador, presented a trophy to be played for in a knock-out competition between six clubs divided geographically into two sections. The winners of each group then played in a deciding final, for which, in 1983, the Malaysian Ambassador donated a cup for the Man of the Match.

The domestic competition has been reorganised several times since. The current format involves 17 clubs who meet on a league basis of home & away 40 over matches. The new Championship trophy was presented for the first time in 1994, the winners being Alpine C.C., Zurich. And in 2004 a Twenty20 format competition was introduced in parallel.

In 1985, at the initiative of the Lyceum Alpinum, Zuoz, the Association helped to organise the first Zuoz Cricket Festival. The Lyceum has a long tradition of cricket and other “British” sports (eg. Eton Fives) dating from the 1920s when an English sports master was appointed. Four cricket matches can be played simultaneously on the grounds at Zuoz in an idyllic setting at an altitude of 1700m. Following a modest start (only four clubs participated in 1985), the Festival is now well established with the regular participation of 8 clubs.

Switzerland is also the birth place of the very prestigious Cricket On Ice, a unique tournament played every winter on the frozen lake in St. Moritz (1700 metres above sea-level) in the Swiss alps.

A Swiss national side played in the inaugural Cricketer International Tournament in Guernsey in 1990, narrowly missing the semi-final by 0.1 runs/over.

Tours have been made over the years to various countries by individual clubs or by the Association, and there have been welcome visits by touring teams to Switzerland.

In 1985 the Association was granted Affiliate status of the ICC. However, at the end of 2009 a second association was formed. Despite concerted efforts throughout 2010 it was not possible to bring the two groups together which ultimately lead to the suspension from the ICC and the subsequent re-branding of this association as Cricket Switzerland in 2014.

Despite this, however, Cricket Switzerland’s efforts in organising & promoting cricket was recognised when in 2018 it was accepted as a member of Swiss Olympic (the umbrella organisation for all sports in Switzerland) and in doing so cricket became a recognised Swiss sport.

Cricket has continued to grow at approximately 10% each year and in 2020 membership of Cricket Switzerland stood at 28 member clubs and association.

In 2021 Cricket Switzerland application to the ICC for associate membership was accepted.

 

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