Sport

A hot August in Budapest

ianbancroft RSS / 07.10.2011. u 13:12

The 'Slogging the Serbs' cricket blog is pleased to present a guest post by Vladimir Ninkovic, co-founder of the Serbian Cricket Federation.

Tekst na srpskom možete pročitati u nastavku

To read the first 'Slogging the Serbs' post, please click here.

During literally the hottest week of this year, the third annual cricket tournament - the EuroTwenty20 - was held in Budapest.

In all honesty, the matches themselves weren't played in Budapest, but in a little place called Sződliget, some 15 miles from Pest, which can be reached by train in 20 to 25 minutes.

Serbia once again participated in this competition that serves first and foremost to popularize this old, beautiful and complicated sport in both the Balkans and other Central/EasternEuropean countries 'lucky' enough to sense the joys of socialism.

I again had the honor to be not only the captain of our national team, but also the organizer of the whole trip. When you practice amateur sport - especiallyone that is only emerging and that is practically unknown to most of the population, unfortunately including those well-heeled potential benefactors and contributors - theorganization of any sojourn lasting longer than one nightpresents an excruciatingly real example of pure masochism.

Nevertheless, let's skip the sad part, in which I somehow managed to gather the best players that I had at that moment, booked the apartments, etc... - we had somehow crammed into three car, bags on our laps, and off we went on a four hour journey to our destination.

Temperature - 38C with the tendency of rising over the course of the week.

Matches scheduled for 10am - 1pm - 4pm (yes, the game indeed lasts around three hours!).

Cricket is played every day, with a one day break between the group phase of the competition and the semi-finals.

By the way, after getting a proper cricket ground, Hungary has obtained the possibility to qualify for affiliate member of the European Cricket Council, whilst Serbia still has only the status of prospective member.

As for the competition itself, the elegant, playful and merciless Serbs faced the teams of Slovakia, Croatia and Hungary B, who all tasted defeat.

Scores from the tournament are available by clicking here.

A selection of photos is available by clicking here.

Unfortunately, Alderney cancelled their participation at the last moment, thus leaving the hosts high and dry.

So with no great difficulties, we managed to secure first place in our group, thereby underlining our desire to finish first overall.

But then, the injuries and all other delights of amateurism took their toll in wrecking three of four best players. What you gonna do? - you have to face the Bulgarians in the semi-finals!

I do not offer any excuses. The absence of the best players can't justify the weak and lifeless performance that we gave at that moment.

A bitter defeat; a slap in the face.

No sport has seen a match for third place carry such a special emotional charge, but that's exactly why they are so often attractive.

The match between the 'weakened Serbs' and the 'strengthened Croats' (from New Zealand came their captain, and in my opinion the best player of the entire tournament, John Vujnović), had really brought some fine cricket, but also resulted in our second defeat in a row.

They were better, enough said...

We shook hands.

If someone had offered me a fourth-placed finish before the beginning of the tournament, I would have gladly accepted.

But now, as the acknowledged sports commentators would say, we were left with a grief. We could have maybe gone all the way to the top.

The comforting fact was that our Nebojša Đurić had been considered the best ''all rounder'' of the championship, according to the statistics.

In accordance with the old English proverb - ''What goes on tour, stays on tour'' - I won't be mentioning the out of ground activities.

It should be noted that the plague of vulgar nationalism hasn't touched our fellow cricketers, apart from some minor squabbles related to the traditional animosity between certain countries from the adjacent continent.

And so, off the ground, we go out together, hang out; it would be a pity to stay quarantined when you're in Budapest. God sees it all. When you're on the ground, it's another story. Cricket is a rough sport.

There's no creative conclusion, we're left to continue training and prepare for 2012. The man is damned, the appetite's always increasing.

And so - 'till the next year in Sofia!

To learn more about cricket in Serbia, please visit the website of the Serbian Cricket Federation by clicking here.

Vreli avgust u Budimpešti

Kriket blog ima zadovoljstvo da predstavi tekst Vladimira Ninkovića, jednog od osnivača Kriket federacije Srbije.

Tokom najtoplije nedelje ove godine u Budimpešti (to jest, u Sodligetu, nekih dvadesetak kilometara od centra grada ) održan je treći po redu EuroT20 turnir u kriketu.

Srbija je i ove godine učestvovala na tom takmičenju koje služi pre svega da populariše ovaj drevni, složeni sport u našem regionu i drugim centralnoistočnim zemljama koje su bile dovoljno srećne da iskuse blagodeti socijalizma.

Moja malenkost je ponovo imala tu čast da bude kapiten našeg nacionalnog tima, ali i organizator samog puta. Kada se bavite amaterskim sportom, pogotovo jednim koji je u povoju i skoro nepoznat međ Srbima organizovanje bilo kakvih gostovanja dužih od jednog noćenja i daljih od sat i po vožnje predstavlja krajnji mazohizam.

Elem, da preskočim tužni deo, kada sam nekako napabirčio najbolje igrače kojima sam u datom trenutku raspolagao, bukirao apartmane itd, nagurasmo se nekako u tri automobila, sa sve torbama u krilu, i krenusmo na četvoročasovno putovanje do našeg odredišta.

Temperatura - 38C sa tendencijom rasta u toku nedelje prvenstva.

Termini odigravanja mečeva: 10 - 13 - 16h (meč obično traje oko tri sata).

Igra se svaki dan, uz dan pauze između grupne faze takmičenja i polufinala.

Inače, Mađarska je ove godine dobila pravi kriket teren koji je kvalifikuje za postizanje punopravnog članstva u Evropskom Kriket Savetu u kome Srbija, još uvek, ima status posmatrača.

Što se tiče samog takmičenja, u grupi su protiv elegantnih, raspoloženih i nemilosrdnih Srba padali redom Slovaci, Hrvati i ekipa Mađarske B (na žalost ostrvo Alderni je otkazalo u poslednji čas, pa su se domaćini našli u nebranom grožđu), te smo ubedljivo zauzeli prvo mesto u grupi i istakli kandidaturu za prvo mesto.

Klikni ovde za rezultate turnira

Fotografije sa turnira možete videti ovde

E tada povrede i ostale divote amaterizma uzimaju danak u vidu tri od četiri, do tada, najbolja igrača. Šta da se radi, Bugarima se mora na crtu u polufinalu. Ipak, odsustvo najboljih igrača ne može da opravda neverovatno slabu i beživotnu partiju koju smo tada pružili. Težak poraz, šamarčina.

Ni u jednom sportu utakmice za treće mesto ne nose poseban emotivni naboj ali su upravo zbog toga vrlo često atraktivne.

Naš meč protiv „pojačanih Hrvata" (doleteo im je sa Novog Zelanda kapiten i, po meni, najkvalitetniji igrač celog turnira Džon Vujnović) doneo je zaista lep kriket, ali je rezultirao i drugim našim porazom. Nema šta, bili su bolji, rukovasmo se.

Da mi je neko ponudio ovaj plasman pre početka oberučke bih ga prihvatio, no sada, što bi rekle vedete sportskog novinarstva, ostaje žal. Mogli smo možda i do samog vrha.

Uteha je da je naš Nebojša Đurić po statistikama najbolji „olraunder" prvenstva.

Vođen engleskom izrekom koja kaže „What goes on tour, stays on tour" neću pominjati aktivnosti van terena. Greh je u Budimpešti biti u karantinu. Bog sve vidi.

Nema tu mnogo mudrosti, ostaje nam da se još bolje spremimo za sledeći EuroT20 u Sofiji.

Apetiti uvek rastu, čovek je prokleta životinja.

Za više informacija o kriketu u Srbiji možete posetiti sajt Kriket federacije Srbije.

Tagovi



Komentari (2)

Komentare je moguće postavljati samo u prvih 7 dana, nakon čega se blog automatski zaključava

reanimator reanimator 14:39 07.10.2011

.

fantomatsicna fantomatsicna 09:54 09.10.2011

Drago mi je da je Dzon doleteo

Inace kod nas je stanje sad: The world came here to play..Svetsko prventstvo u ragbiju

Arhiva

   

Kategorije aktivne u poslednjih 7 dana