Cricket has been played in Slovenia since the formation of a team to play against a visiting Dutch team in 1997. In our first 2 years we played 'friendlies' against teams from Austria, Italy, Holland and Switzerland as well as a match against a Sri Lankan Ambassador's XI from Vienna (as the British Ambassador's XI from Slovenia). We have managed to win the Ambassador's Cup in both years it was held.

1999 saw us entered in the Austrian trophy where we made the semi-final before losing to Prague. We also entered the Lodi Tournament in Italy for the first time, reaching a disappointing fifth place. This year saw us reach the final of the Lodi tournament with probably our best performance in the history of the club, only to lose to Malta in the final, and again reach the next round of the Austrian trophy. We also made our debut in the Austrian Open League where we have played quite well and currently have been the only team to defeat present league leaders U.N.C.C.

Our player base is fairly dependent on expat players from cricketing nations (and England) but we also include amongst our ranks Canadians, Americans and a small number of Slovenes.

The Tournament in Vienna is particularly important to us as it gives us a chance to spread the word about cricket in this country through as many networks as possible. Most of our players have been living here for lengthy stays and are closely involved in the local community through girlfriends, spouses, work etc. and I know we will all feel proud to be playing under the Slovenian flag against other national representatives.

Our cricketing prowess, while unlikely to win lucrative contracts from wealthy County Clubs, is of a fairly respectable standard and includes some fiery fast bowling, some dour and some dashing batting (although not necessarily straight from the coaching manuals) and some enthusiastic fielding.

Of the players attending the tournament, players to watch will be Captain Mark Oman who is often the backbone of our batting as well as being able to generate quite some speed with the ball in his hand, all-rounder, vice-captain Dan Ryan could cause some problems with his left arm pace and is also quite an exciting fieldsman. Brad Eve who generally opens the bowling with some considerable enthusiasm (and won the trophy as best bowler of the tournament in Lodi), acrobatic keeper Greg Davies who also bats at number 3 with a lot of determination, opening Batsman Scott Geldart who also bowls some deceptive swing bowling, as well as the erratic, but never boring Steve Fish.

Special mention however must go to our local players Urban Blaznik and Damir Alidzanovic who are our first and certainly not our last successes at making the game more accessible to Slovenes with their tireless efforts in explaining the rules and objectives of the game to anyone who stops to watch as well as with their on-field performances.

Lastly we would like to mention and thank our inaugural Club President Roger Metcalfe who is moving onwards to the cricket fields of Morocco this week. Without his efforts there would probably not be the solid foundation 4 years of cricket have built in this country.

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