June 11th was the anniversary of John Wayne's death in 1979, and although not a cricketer, players should bear in mind what he once said: 'Talk low, talk slow and don't say much at all!' He was of course referring to acting in Westerns when he made this remark, but I think it would equally apply to players when discussing matters with umpires!

Regrettably one Swiss player did not know of this comment during the 'friendly' International between France and Switzerland, which took place last month in the delightful setting of Chateau de Thoiry in France, under blue skies, to the accompaniment of distant monkey cries and rhinoceros snorts from the Safari Park.

The player created a rather ugly incident, not with the animals I must add, but which became the talking point in the corridors of power within Swiss cricket.

Reports have it that after one of the umpires, after the required number of 'no-ball' calls and warnings, and the request that the Swiss equivalent to Shoaib Akhtar be removed from the bowling line up due to his suspect action, got on the receiving end of some rather choice words from the Swiss player, who should have known better, when he let his feelings be known to the unfortunate umpire in no uncertain terms. (The SCA has taken some punitive action against the player.)

Anyway the outburst did not change matters, and the Swiss team were unable to repeat last year's marvellous win in the final over and were, to put it bluntly, trounced. All that can be said about the two matches is that it gave some useful batting and bowling practice to the French who are off to Canada for the ICC Trophy tournament to be held in Toronto, from the 28th June to 17th July. For the Swiss it was another disappointment but it did give some useful international experience for some promising new young players.

On day one, a 50 over match, France won by 60 runs; France 259 for 8, Switzerland 199 all out in 49.5 overs. On day two, a 40 over match, France won by 82 runs; France 223 all out of 37.1 overs, Switzerland 151 all out in 38.4 overs.

Unfortunately a second pre-ECC Trophy match against Luxembourg, where a better result was hoped for, had to be cancel due to bad weather, and boy was it bad. On match day, the clouds rolled in over Geneva and the heavens opened, giving no chance of a ball being bowled. Fortunately for Meteo-Swiss, the weather forecasters, they had got it right, as the game had been called off the night before on account of their pessimistic predictions and thus avoiding any unnecessary travel for players.

Moving onto the league, it looks like the usual race between Geneva and Bern for the Western league title, although it is early days. Geneva have the points at present, but the title will probably be decided in the end, by the results of the home and away fixtures between the two top contenders of the division.

Cossonay though could be an outside bet to pick up the runners-up spot. They lost to Bern when they let chances slip through their hands and were then unable to sustain a charge at the gettable total. Against Geneva, though, they were simply out gunned but more importantly out manned!

If they are to have any chance they must get a win this week-end against CERN, who went down very badly to Geneva in their opening league match.

In the Eastern Division, the early running is being set by United. Current Swiss champions, Winterthur, though have yet to get off the mark due to a washed out day when they played United - when it rains here, it pours!

An important match for Winterthur and Classic, who lie in second spot at present, is their clash on June 17th (at the time of submitting copy(.. This could well give an indication as to who will be in the title hunt at the end of the season.

The coming month will be an interesting time, when several key games are due to be played and clubs try to get in as many fixtures before players go off for the ECC trophy competition in Austria in August.

This is how the tables are shaping up at present:

Western Division:
Club		Played	Won	Lost	NR	Pts	RunRate
Geneva		2	2	0	0	69	34.5
Bern		1	1	0	0	34	34.0
Cossonay	2	0	2	0	15	 7.5
CERN		1	0	1	0	3	 3.0

Eastern Division:
Club		Played	Won	Lost	NR	Pts.	RunRate
United		3	2	0	1	59	29.5
Classic		2	1	1	0	34	17.0
Nomads		1	0	1	0	9	 9.0
Royal Lankans	1	0	1	0	9	 9.0
Winterthur	1	0	0	1	1         0

Finally, as promised in the last letter I will say good-bye in Romantsch. By the way, it does not work in all cases, as Romantsch does have dialects, so do not be surprised if the person you are saying this to, looks at you with a bemused smile on his or her face. As a freebie, to say hello in the same dialect, it is 'Bien di'. Till next time 'Adia'

John Bird

Tony Munro: After John's initial report last month, some readers requested his email address. It is: jbird@wrgfm.com

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