Denmark U13 kicked off their Swiss tour last weekend in Zurich in fine style as they raced to victory in the opening two matches of the tour. A rainy start saw the Danes move their match to the superb indoor facilities at the International School, where an impromptu 40 over match (8 a side) was arranged. Invited to bat first, the Swiss were in early trouble against the pace of Mads Henriksen and spin of Adeel Ahktar, both bowlers making massive inroads into the home side's batting. From this point on wickets continued to fall at regular intervals, all the Danish attack contributing to the home side’s demise. In reply the visitors never really looked in trouble as openers Jannik Weisse and Mads Henriksen knocked off the winning total in just 14 overs.

So with time and energy to spare, a 20/20 was hastily arranged, and this time Denmark were invited to the wicket first. Openers Adeel Ahktar and Anique Uddin set about laying the foundation of an impressive 167 for 4 wickets, but it was Akhtar that showed the real class with an array of one day shots that even had the home crowd applauding some of the efforts. There were further solid contributions from Jawad Ali and Frederik Mikkelsen in the Danish innings, overall it was nice to see the improvement across the board in the Danish team. In reply the Swiss batsman came out with a lot more determination, and although they struggled to score consistently, a determined knock from Hendersen and helped the home team reach a respectable 110 for 5 wickets. Once again there were some solid performances with the ball from the young Danish attack, the pick of these with some hard turning leg breaks was Svanholm’s Toke Larsen with 2,6-0-6-0

A good first day for the young Viking’s, some important lessons learned both on and off the field, and we can go into tomorrow’s matches with great confidence in all areas of the game.

Day two of the Swiss tour, and the weather gods were still against the Danes and their hopes of playing outside. So proceedings were again moved to the fantastic Zurich International School, and another 8 a side, forty over’s match hastily arranged. Denmark were invited to bat by the home team, and the Danes were off to a great start as openers Mads Henriksen 78 and Jannik Wiesse 66 added 182 for a record opening stand at U13 level. The openers were again well supported by the inform Adeel Ahktar 70*, once again Adeel entertained the large crowd with an array of fine strokes. The Swiss bowling attack by this stage were beginning to look a little battered, although there were a couple of good performances, Josh Boylass’ 3 for 50 in particular being a better spell than his figures suggested. Denmark closed their innings on a very impressive 335 for 5.

In reply the Swiss batsmen put up their best display of the three day visit in accumulating a very respectable 161 for 6 in their allotted 40 overs. The pick of the home sides innings was the stand between Maresque 31 and Ashwan 30, who managed to assemble a very tidy 106 run partnership in the middle of the innings. They were very well supported at the end of the innings by an outstanding knock of 33*by Pauliner Kratky, one of the very few female players in the game in Switzerland. For the Danes, the visitors bowling was very tidy, if not very penetrating. An encouraging spell of 2 for 8 from Nicholaj Jørgensen probably being the pick of the bunch.

Coach Simon Talbot was pleased however with the performance “Another good allround performance from the boys, our batsman are continuing to grow in stature by the game, and I am particulary pleased with our fielding efforts. More effort is needed however in the bowling department, in the main consistency in line and length.

Rain, rain and more rain seemed to fall on Zurich today, as the Danish U13 squad made it way to Zurich Crickets home ground in Wintetur to attempt their first outdoor game of the series. However, it was not to be, so back it was to the International school and another impromptu T20 International was hastily arranged. For the Danes it was an opportunity to give some of the lesser used players on the tour an opportunity to bat, and it was pleasing to Lavanish 41* (Horsens), Nicholaj Jørgensen (Herning) to all make decent contributions with the bat as Denmark amassed a pretty impressive 145 for five from their twenty overs.

In reply the Swiss batsman found life pretty tough against a far more consistent, and at times hostile Danish attack. Once again Maresque was the pick of the Swiss batting, along with all-rounder Josh Boylass they were the only two to offer any real resistance. For the Danes it was leg spin twins Toke Larsen 2 for 4 and Saif Ahmed 2 for 9 that were the main wicket takers as they helped restrict the home team to 94 for 9 from their allotted 20 overs.

So all in all the tour to Switzerland has to be seen as a worthwhile exercise for the future development of these young and talented players. There are still a lot of very important lessons to be learnt both on and off the field, but this type of experience, and tougher challenges that lie ahead will all contribute to the education at International levels. Manager Bent Mikkelsen explained, “Already I am beginning to see improvements in our players across the board, some as always, quicker than others, we basically need to remain focused on both our individual and team goals, and this group of players will continue to grow in stature and reach the obvious potential thy have”. The U13 Danish squad will now prepare for this weekends upcoming Regional tournament, and they will next be in action as a team in August (1st - 5th) again Switzerland when they tour Denmark.