Berne Cricket Club

Contact: Mr. Abraham Koshy or Mr. Ken McKeown

Berne CC constitution: Click here

Berne Cricket Club pursues the goal of bringing Cricket closer to people of every age and to let them take part in training and competition.

The Club supports the youth and the distribution of information about Cricket in Bern and in whole of Switzerland.

The inaugural gathering of Berne Cricket Club was over a quarter of a century ago. It took place at Marzilimoos, a single-wicket competition beforehand, with a dozen or so taking part, icluding Louis Adhihetty, our star all-rounder, who kindly proposed me as captain; Peter (now Archdeacon) Hawker who counselled against election of a committee (too much bureaucracy); Keith Hewlett, who had obtained the ground through his links with Bern Hockey club; and the improbably named Micky Finn from Freiburg (in Germany). The first BCC treasurer – Keith Hewlett was the first secretary, succeeded after a couple of years by Chandroo Lalvani.

Berne Cricket Club

The following year, John McKenzie was posted to the Australian Embassy in Bern and was soon devoting his considerable energy to the club, becoming its first Chairman. It was John more than anyone who was responsible for our transition into a real ‘grown-up’ club. He co-ordinated the writing of the Club constitution (based on the Finland Cricket Association), he kept wicket, opened the batting, and got our finances into a healthy state thanks to the very successful fundraising. With his diplomatic ties, John built up the patrons of the club from the ambassadors of the cricket playing counties, a tradition that we maintain to this day.

John was not only active on cricket in Bern but was also instrumental in the founding of the Swiss Cricket Association. It was John who convened and chaired the SCA inaugural meeting at the Australian Embassy in Alpenstrasse, Bern in February 1980 (or was it 1979?). This was attended by representatives of the relatively small number of clubs active in Switzerland at that time.