Concordia CC crowned ÖMS champions as season gets underway.

After two commanding victories in Seebarn against Lords CC and Vienna CC on Saturday, a rapid victory against CC Velden '91 on Sunday morning at their Markommannenstrasse ground, meant that Concordia CC were crowned 2003 ÖMS Champions, in the revitalised ÖMS competition.

In the opening round of matches on Saturday morning, Vienna CC snatched defeat from the jaws of victory against CC Velden '91, before losing by a single run, having seemingly been coasting to victory, with Concordia CC overcoming Lords CC, helped by a knock of 60 from Qamar Abbas, with Anish Gupta and Sukhvir Hira two wickets apiece for Lords, who were then dismissed for 75 in reply to Concordia's 160-7 in 30 overs, with Lakmal Kasturiarachchige, Aruna Rosa and Maninder Bharti taking two wickets each.

In the afternoon round of matches, Concordia CC posted a massive 259-9 in their 30 overs, thanks to solid contributions from Waqas Bhatti (33), Aman Deep (31) and Satyam Subhash (30), before Raza Aqif bludgeoned 67* at the end of the innings, with Tim Simpson taking 4-38 for Vienna CC from his 6 overs. Vienna CC never looked like chasing this formidable total, and after a steady start from openers Tim Simpson and Michi Nedoma, the team subsided to 97 all out. Lords CC meanwhile overcame CC Velden '91 on Seebarn 1, to post their first win.

Concordia steamrollered CC Velden '91 on Sunday morning, shooting out an understrength Velden side for just 45 - Saturday's back-to-back fixtures having taken a toll on some of the Velden players, knocking the required total off without losing a wicket to claim their third win, and the ÖMS championship.

In the afternoon's fixture, between Vienna CC and Lords CC, which the weather threatened to settle, although ultimately only a quarter of an hour was lost to rain, Vienna CC posted 121-9, with captain Tim Simpson, after scores of 34 against Velden and Concordia, scoring 26, Erwin Grasinger 29 and Neil Foster a quickfire 28, whilst Makhan Bharti finished with 3-25, and Sukhvir Hira 2-19. Ashwani Khanna's 34 from 37 balls paved the way for a seven wicket victory for Lords, with Wasif Mohammed scoring 47* and Rajeev Sharma an unbeaten 25 adding an unbroken 59, taking Lords into the runners-up spot.

The ACA would like to thank Pakistan CC, Pakistan Falken CC and Five Continents CC for supplying umpires for the tournament, even though they were not participating, and hopes that after this year's successfully concluded ÖMS tournament, that 2004 will see more clubs able to compete. With teams asked to consist of at least 7 Austrians (passport holders / citizens from birth or those resident for at least 7 years) it was pleasing to see that all teams comfortably exceeded this quota.