CRICKET CLUB
HISTORY OF CRICKET IN AUSTRIA
Present
2000 | May 24: Vienna Cricket Club was founded on 24th May 1975, originally as Tattersall’s XI, by Kerry Tattersall. Its initial membership was drawn from pupils at the Handelsakademie in Floridsdorf at which he was teaching. Oct 26: Vienna Cricket Club defeated by an Australian Embassy XI on the Jahnwiese – match played with 8 ball overs. The Australian Embassy side batted first scoring 93 all out, with 29 extras and 27 by Townsend the main contributions. Walter Wiesmüller, VCC’s captain, was the pick of the VCC bowlers, taking 4-17 in 5 overs. In reply Vienna CC were able to only muster 70 runs, with Kasper (22) and Priborsky (11) the only players to reach double figures, with the Australian Embassy XI winning by 23 runs. |
2001 | Concordia CC (now Austria CC Wien) was founded, and played as Concordia CC until it changed its name to Austria CC Wien in 2002. |
2002 | Lords CC founded. The club was to become the dominant force in Austrian cricket around the turn of the millennium, winning the ACA Open League title four years in a row between 1997 and 2000. |
2003 | Austria took part in the European Cricketer Cup in Guernsey on 21-26 May, playing West Germany, Guernsey, Luxembourg and France in their group. After finishing fourth in their group (following a victory over Luxembourg) they met Malta in the 7th/8th place play-off. Some scorecards are available on cricketarchive.com. |
2005 | Austria gains ICC affiliate member status, being admitted at the same time as Brunei and Spain. |
2009 | March: Inaugural ECF European indoor championships are held on a floating ship moored on the Danube in Vienna. Greece wins the final against hosts Austria. MCC Secretary, Mr Roger Knight, presides over the awards’ ceremony Summer: Austria’s first ever dedicated cricket ground with ICC-approved boundaries for international ODIs opens in August in Seebarn (20 km north of Vienna) with the inaugural match Vienna C.C. vs. UNCC. The ground has an artifical wicket, a grass outfield and sightscreens, the first of its kind in Austria. |
2010 | February: Austria wins the ECF Indoor Nations Tournament held at Lords Indoor School. First International Matches played in Austria – the visit of the French national team sees the first international matches played in Austria on a dedicated cricket ground, with two matches being played in Seebarn. |
2011 | CC Velden 91’s ground in Latschach opened – the ground remains one of Europe’s most scenic grounds. |
2012 | August: The Marylebone Cricket Club, MCC, toured Austria for the first time, playing five matches between 15-22 August (against United Nations CC, Vienna CC, the Austrian National team, an Austrian Combined XI and CC Velden 91) at Seebarn and Latschach. MCC are the Guardians of the Laws of Cricket and the club has been in existence since 1787. Scorecards for the matches are available on cricketarchive.com. |
2014 | Austrian National Team participates at ECC Trophy in Corfu. Benji Loader was awarded Bowler of the Tournament. Match scorecards are available on www.cricketarchive.com. |
2015 | August: ECC Representative Festival held in Seebarn – Norway (champions), Croatia (2nd), Austria, Finland and Slovenia contest the ECC Representative Festival tournament in Seebarn. Norway are crowned champions with four wins from four matches. |
2016 | May: Opening of second ground in Seebarn – The second ground at Seebarn was used between 2001 and 2006, having been delayed due to drought in the summer of 2000. It was used extensively for the ECC Trophy tournaments of 2001 and 2003. It was opened on European Cricket Day by Ian Stuart (Regional Development Manager, ECC), Andrew Eade (ICC) and Kerry Tattersall (founder Vienna CC). August: ECC Trophy was held in Seebarn and Velden (10 teams – Sweden, Malta, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Greece, Belgium, Austria, Croatia and Finland). Austria finished as runners-up to Portugal, losing in the final, with both teams qualifying for the 2002 European Championships B Division held in Northern Ireland. |
2017 | June: The Marylebone Cricket Club tours Austria as part of its tour of Croatia, Slovenia and Austria. MCC play two games against the Austrian National Team in Seebarn, winning both. The MCC team includes Ross Taylor, then an MCC Young Cricketer, who was to go on to captain New Zealand. July: Austria plays in the B division of the European Championships, against Associate Members France, Germany, Gibraltar, Israel and fellow Affiliate Member Portugal. The two wicket loss against Gibraltar is the closest result the team has. |
2019 | January – Lakmal Kasturiarachchige attends Terry Jenner legspin clinic at Lord’s, having broken through into the national team the previous summer, playing in the European Championships in Northern Ireland. (Report) August – Notts Sport ECC Trophy held in Seebarn and Markomannenstrasse, Vienna. The tournament is the first qualifying tournament for the 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup held in the West Indies. Norway are crowned champions, finishing top of the round robin group. Austria finish second on run-rate having beaten Malta by 10 wickets. August – Satyam Subhash plays for Somerset 2nd XI vs Lancashire 2nd XI. Following up from the promise he showed in the ECC Notts Sports Trophy in Vienna was given a trial game with the Somerset 2nd XI played at Aigburth. (Match scorecard) |
2020 | July – Klemens Cathcart scores century on international début for Austria in friendly international versus Czech Republic. September – Graz CC founded by Adrian Milward-Sadler, Tim Johnson and Phil Keegan, the first cricket club in Styria. |
2021 | Austria finishes third in ICC European Division 4. In the national team’s first ICC tournament since 2003, the national team finishes third behind hosts Cyprus and Switzerland. (Tournament Website) |
2022 | June 20-25: Austria finish runners-up in ICC Europe T20 Division 2, and are promoted to ICC Europe T20 Division 1, but lose to hosts Belgium in the final. Both teams play in ICC Europe T20 Division 1 held in the Channel Islands. (Tournament Website) July: July 22: During Austria’s victory over Croatia, Austrian National Team captain Amar Naeem scored an undefeated century in 82 balls including 15 fours and 3 sixes. His first 50 came in 63 balls, the second one in a mere 19. He followed up this performance with 5 stumpings in the Croatian innings as well as taking a catch – a feat confirmed by ICC that evening as a World Record in the T20 format. (Match Scorecard) |