The rise of cricket in Deutschland
With a strong base in today’s sports leagues, the German word “blitzkrieg” may just be the spot on description to illustrate Germany’s supremacy in athletic competition. You see, the country’s sports industry is arguably dominated by football enthusiasts of Bundesliga and ice hockey’s Deutsche Eishockey Liga. The nation is also credited for the birth of handball, which remains a top sport in the European scene. At the international level, we find German athletes ranking among the best in their respective sports including famed baller Dirk Nowitzki and now retired but a legend on the Formula One race tracks, Michael Schumacher. In fact, the felt tables are aced by German natives as well, as evidenced by bracelets earned by poker prodigy Pius Heinz. From the physical to the tactical sport, there’s always a German conquering the athletic scene.
But if there’s one sport that lacked attention from the country, it would have to be cricket. See, the sport may be a popular fixture in other nations including Bangladesh, India, Australia, and the UK among others, but come Germany, rarely do we find sports hubs and bars going crazy over the cricket field and the team’s batsmen. Luckily for fans of the competition, there’s an emergence of the sport in the past decade. The country’s famous national team has recently made headlines as they poked fun against fellow Australian bowlers, and has even claimed that they can beat the top-ranked team.
Germany’s National Cricket Team and the quest for the urn
Germany Cricket Team
Captained by Asif Kahn and coached by former cricket player Keith Thompson, Germany’s National Cricket team is set to go all in for international competence. Just recently, the 37th ranked Deutsch team challenged the struggling Australian batsmen for a duel. The Australians, who are currently fourth in the world, are in a slump and the German cricket players were confident they could outlast the higher ranking team.
In a report by the Telegraph, coach Thompson was even quoted saying that Australia’s mindset is not as focused and resolute. “Australia’s mindset seems to be pretty frail … I’m not sure they’re going into any game of cricket at the moment with a whole lot of confidence. On our day we fancy a crack at them,” he said. Australia has always been competent in the field of cricket. It has been home to former Australian bowler Shane Warne, who now plays professionally at the felt tables. This Australian star has shown incredible wits in the card industry which parallels the skills of those frequenting the prestigious World Series of Poker, or the partypoker – sponsored World Poker Tour. So, saying that Australia’s mindset as frail may not exactly be accurate given the case of Warne, who exhibits the skills of a poker pro. He may no longer play for the Australian cricket team, but expect their national team to give the Germans a competent match in the game of cricket.
