Zuoz 2021 report

Having won all three of their round-robin matches, Winterthur were declared winners of the Friendly 4-team T20 tournament in Zuoz (19 & 20.6.2021) after the final had to be abandoned due to rain.

On Saturday, Winterthur easily beat Basel by 87 runs in the first match, Cheema scoring 85 and Murali an unbeaten 81.

In the afternoon Winterthur faced Zurich Lions and won again, albeit by a rather closer margin of just 25 runs, to lead the table after day one.

On the Sunday Winterthur put on another convincing batting display, this time against Novartis, to win by 199 runs, Diyon scoring 115 and his debut tonne for the club. In the afternoon, with the rain threatening, despite only scoring 204 runs (their lowest score of the weekend) - Cheema scoring more than half of those with an unbeaten 127, Winterthur would have still felt confident of winning the tournament outright. But the rain came during the innings break and Zurich Lions never got on the field to start their innings.

View photographs of the weekend in the WCC Gallery.

Match 1 - Zuoz, Saturday 19th June 2021, 11am

Winterthur versus Basel CC

WCC 236-3 in 20.0 overs (S.Cheema 85, M.Gnanesagaram 81*, K.Ahmadzai 30*) beat Basel CC 149-7 in 20.0 overs (A.Patel 40*; S.Cheema 4.0-0-36-2, H.Deshan 3.0-0-7-2) by 87 runs

cricHQ Match scorecard

After winning the toss & electing to bat, Winterthur opened with captain Mohamed (22) & Cheema (85). The two openers got Winterthur off to a positive start (57-1) and Murali (81*) continued the good work with an unbeaten 81. At 160-2 Diyon came to crease but wasn't to last long, bowled going for a big shot (196-3). But Noori (30*) added another quick-fire 30 runs off just 12 balls to finish the Winterthur innings on 236-3.

Basel started fairly, but after losing two mid-order batters for ducks, were never really in the match. Despite an unbeaten mid-order 40 by Ankit (40*), but they played out their overs finishing on 149-7, 87 runs short of the total.

1st innings (Winterthur)

2nd innings (Basel)

Match 2 - Zuoz, Saturday 19th June 2021, 3pm

Winterthur versus Zurich Lions

WCC 241-4 in 20.0 overs (S.Cheema 43, I.Jayakody 31, M.Gnanesagaram 52, D.Johnson 92*; O.Akakhil 4.0-0-41-2) beat Zurich Lions 21-6 in 20.overs (A.Lal 57, S.Lakshmanan 67; K.Ahmadzai 4.0-0-37-2, T.Balasingam 4.0-0-32-2) by 25 runs

cricHQ match scorecard

Winterthur's next match against Zurich Lions was to prove a tougher test for the big hitting Winterthur team.

Again Winterthur chose to set the pace. All four of the Winterthur top order hit double figures: Cheema (43), Ishan (31), Muraki 52 and Diyon (91*) setting Zurich Lions an ambitious target of 242.

An early wicket for Noori spurned a great recovery from Zurich Lions with Ankush (57) and Senthil (67) both scoring half-centuries. However, the run rate proved just a little high and Zurich fell 25 runs short in their allotted 20 overs.

Winterthur innings

Zurich Lions innings

Match 3 - Zuoz, Sunday 20th June 2021, 10am

Winterthur versus Novartis CC

Winterthur 227ao in 19.4 overs (I.Jayakody 25, D.Johnson 115; V.Devaraj 2.4-0-37-3) beat Novartis CC 108-8 in 20.0 overs (G.Kandasamy 23; T.Balasingam 4.0-0-29-2, N.Kanthaseelan 2.0-0-3-2, S.Sivakaran 4.0-0-26-2) by 119 runs

cricHQ match scorecard

Having already qualified for the final, Winterthur could relax in the last game of the round-robin against Novartis CC. The team appeared to do just that, all but Diyon (115) who scored his debut century for the club, leading Winterthur to another total exceeding 200 runs, 227 all out 2 balls short of their allotted overs.

Regular wickets in the Novartis innings prevented them from getting into their stride and they never threatened the Winterthur total, Novartis ending the innings 199 runs shirt on 108-8 and handing Winterthur their third win in three matches.

Winterthur innings

Novartis innings

Match 4 - Zuoz, Sunday 20th June 2021, 3pm

Final: Zurich Lions versus WCC

Winterthur 204-4 in 20.0 overs (S.Cheema 127*, M.Gnanesagaram 26; K.Shah 4.0-1-46-2, M.Daftari 4.0-0-35-2) versus Zurich Lions 0-0 in 0.0 overs RAINED OFF

cricHQ match scorecard

Cheema's undefeated 127 was in vain as the rain prevented Zurich Lions from facing a ball and the match was abandoned after Winterthur had amassed a good 204-4 in their allotted overs.

Winterthur innings

Zurich Lions dnb

Summary

All in all it proved a positive experience and all enjoyed the cricket with one of most impressive backdrops to a cricket field in existence.

We would like to thank the Lyceum Alpinum, particularly Mark Dobson & Ladina Tarnuzzer & her catering team) and the organisers and John Hallam (WCCTV) for their work and help in staging the weekend.