The CERN Cricket Club plays on the French site of CERN, which is found on the French/Swiss border close to Geneva.
Cricket has been practiced in Geneva for close on 200 hundred years - as can be seen in the painting Vue de la Ville de Genève et de Plein-Palais, 1817 by Giovanni Salucci (Florence 1769-1845).
CERN CC participates in the Cricket Switzerland league and also plays friendlies against other non-league teams from Switzerland, France ( Rhone CC, Riviera Cricket Club (formerly Cabris)) , Italy (Euratom CC, Milan CC, IDLE CC), and the UK (Trafford Solicitors, Fleet Street Strollers).
The CERN Cricket Club (CCC) was founded in 1965, and is the second oldest Club in Switzerland. Over the years the Club has had varying fortunes, but still continues to play some 25 matches each season which starts at the end of April, and lasts until the end of September.
The Committee comprises a President, Vice-President, Captain, Vice-Captain, Secretary, Treasurer and a Groundsman.
The Club's ground is to be found on the CERN Prevessin site, which is just over the border in France.
In the early years, CERN did not have a ground and played on various grounds used by Geneva CC, mainly the Stade de Richemont, but also on football fields in Vessy and Frontenex. Net practice at that time was held on the Meyrin site, initially near the kindergarten and then next to the road where Building 40 is now located.It was only in the mid-70s, when the CERN SPS was constructed and the Prevessin site was created, that CERN found what is now their home ground. The pitch was initially at 90 degrees to the current pitch and behind the hut until one season CERN decided to construct a storage area on the ground and a new strip had to be laid in an emergency mid-season. This grass strip was used until the 2001 season when an artificial strip was laid. In 2003, the current hut replaced the old barrack, having been offered to the Club by a contractor at CERN who no longer needed it. Since then, members of the club have worked hard to create the covered terraces.
In 2014, CERN replaced the wicket by a wider one, installed a new practice strip and re-seeded parts of the ground damaged during the Bosons&More concert in September 2013. No home matches or net practices were possible until late June.
Matches are played at the weekends against many of the other clubs in Switzerland, as well as "Internationals" against Milan, Euratom and Trafford Solicitors (UK). In the distant past, games were played against Grenoble, Barcelona, Monte Carlo, Antibes and British Airways, Manchester. Most of these clubs are now defunct. In the recent past, games were played against Villars, Montbard CC, Freiburg Nomads CC (Germany), and Optimists CC (Luxembourg).
For many years there was an annual fixture against Geneva C.C. for the John Harvey Trophy (John Harvey was a founder member), and since 1992 a Single Wicket Competition is held annually for the Eifion Jones Trophy (another founder member). The Club participated in the Durham Cricket Festival, UK, in 1992, 1995, 1997, 2000 and 2004. Three members of the Club joined with others from Switzerland to form the Swiss Alpenhorn XI which played in the 1994 Golden Oldies Festival in Birmingham, UK.
Cricket nets take place at the ground on Thursday evenings starting at 18:00 from mid-April to late September.
The CERN C.C. was a founder member of the Swiss Cricket Association, which became Cricket Switzerland in 2014, and takes part in its League programme.
For more information, contact Chris Onions
This page was last updated on February 25th, 2017