2005 has been an eventful and enjoyable year. Things got off to a flying start back in March when Göttingen hosted the Northern German Indoor Championship. The event attracted teams from all over Northern Germany , including new clubs from the British Army base in Falling Bostel and “The Bowling Stones” from Steinfeld, which was great to see. The tournament was a great success and the standard of cricket encouragingly high. The Hamburg team Alster C.C., Göttingen's arch-rivals, emerged deservedly as champions, having dispatched an over-enthusiastic Göttingen side in the semi-finals. The presentations and awards were made by the deputy-mayor of Göttingen Ulli Holefleisch, to whom we are very grateful for his help and support.

The outdoor season traditionally kicked off with a friendly against our old friends from Düsseldorf C.C. in preparation for a busy year in the northern league. This year, an unprecedented 11 teams would compete for the title. However, 2005 proved to be a frustrating year for the Cricket Team der Uni Göttingen in the league. Yet this was not due to the results; thanks to the weather and a series of games conceded by the opposing team, Göttingen only played just over half of their fixtures. We all know about the infamous English weather but the torrential rains of northern Germany really took the biscuit. I can quite honestly say that I have never known a season like it - and that's coming from an Englishman! Whilst we can be satisfied with 7th place in the league table, we would simply have preferred to play more cricket.

Consequently, we never really settled into a rhythm. The low points were a crunching 198-run defeat at the hands of Hansa Cricket Club from Hamburg , who went on to take the title, and an 88-run defeat against Lübeck, where Göttingen crashed to 80 all out. However, it should not go unnoticed that the four teams we lost to all finished in the top five in the table; we beat MTV Buchholz convincingly (by 6 wickets) and got off to a flyer against Hamburg International, our openers amassing 80 runs without loss before the heavens opened and the match was abandoned. And who knows what would have happened had we played the three games which our components conceded? The individual highlights of the season were Ayoma Abeywickrame's classy 63 versus Hansa Cricket Club, the top score by a Göttingen player in the league in 2005, and Markus Nietsch, whose 10 wickets in the season made him Göttingen's leading wicket-taker and gained him 14th place in the entire northern league.

Our friendly matches were a different story altogether. The sun always came out and we had a lot of competitive fun. We travelled to Falling Bostel twice to play against a select eleven on the army base and were treated like kings, the home side laying on a wonderful English cricket tea and a barbecue after the game. We also welcomed a young side from Bremen here in Göttingen, which ended in a nail-biting tie, and played away at Düsseldorf for the “second leg” of the traditional season double-bill against them. We jumped at the chance to play Alster C.C. at “British Day” again, Hamburg 's lavish celebration of all things British.

In 2001, the Cricket Team der Uni Göttingen travelled to Cheltenham , England , as part of the official 50th birthday celebrations of the twinning between the two towns to play two games against Cheltenham C.C. and Hatherly; four years on, in true Ashes style, we set off for the island again. Paradoxically, the weather was scorching and we enjoyed four games (two more than we played four years ago), winning two of them and putting up a courageous fight in a David-and-Goliath fixture against Cheltenham C.C., who more or less fielded their first eleven which included Gloucestershire's reserve wicket keeper, Steven Snell. The whole week was a wonderful experience and a lot of fun was had by all.

Finally, Göttingen hosted trials for the German national team at the beginning of August, which attracted the cream of German cricket for a successful, albeit rain-affected weekend of training. Göttingen captain Phil Brown was selected and went on to represent Germany against France in Paris and at a mini-tournament in Kent , England . Since his arrival in 2000, he has been a key player in the Göttingen side and a prolific run-scorer in the northern league, averaging 53.8 in 2003. Despite a quiet season in the league this year, Phil found form in the friendlies, scoring a beautifully-crafted 86 not out on tour against a formidable Cheltenham side. We wish him and the German team all the best for 2006.

To sum up the 2005 season as an innings, the top order got off to a solid start with the successful indoor tournament; a spell of bad weather and disappointing results saw the middle order collapse but, with the fantastic tour to Cheltenham , British Day and some highly enjoyable friendlies, the season's tail-end wagged. All in all, a convincing win for cricket in Göttingen.

The indoor season is now on our doorstep; we wish the team a fruitful winter of training and all the very best for 2006.