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As soon as cricket took off at Comenius School in Szekesfehervar back in the autumn of 2006, one of our biggest plans was to enter international tournaments. For girls in continental Europe, they are few and far between, so when I found out about this one, I based my plans around it - there is nothing like an upcoming trip to focus the mind and motivate the players!

Just two weeks before the tournament we lost Fanni, our experienced wicket-keeper and last season's best female player, due to her handball commitments, so Dominika stepped in as a player and Anna quickly learnt how to keep. Domi's tournament was to be cruelly cut short in the end, as she twisted her ankle in the first match and spent all of Saturday at a nearby hospital, but she contributed greatly to the team spirit.

A few days before flying to Berlin, the request came in from the President's International Team for us to 'donate' three players to them. Vivi, Emese B and Zsuzsi (the only non-Comenius player on the trip) volunteered to switch sides, leaving Hungary with 9 players and thus easing the squad rotation problem!

Hungary's first match was against last year's champions, the Dutch national team, and the result was never in doubt. The same applied to the match against Shirehampton from England, who were very professional. Watching and playing against these two teams was a lesson in fielding (everybody is always active) and in all-round cricket style.

To save some pride in the group, we came to the last match of the first day, against Schwerin from Germany. Although they had some very little people in their team, the senior (one very senior!) players pulled them through and we came up short again.

Meanwhile, PIT had tied one game and lost the others in their group, so they also ended up bottom. The attitude of the Hungarian girls in that team was praised, as was Zsuzsi's enthusiastic fielding.

So, Sunday came and with it the prospect of two more matches. Not for Blanka, though - she fell sick at breakfast, so she had to watch the games horizontally.

First up for Hungary was radiomultikulti Cricket Team ReinFüchse Berlin, last year's best German team, looking very professional in their white and green kit, complete with sponsors' logos.

When Brigi was bowled by the first ball of the match, the prospects looked bleak. Nika, however, had other ideas and her stylish hitting took Hungary to 73-3 off 8 overs. Our first two bowlers, Emese M (with a bandaged hand!) and Claudia, put the pressure on from the word go and once Berlin's two best players were out cheaply the game really swang our way. Brigi made up for her batting disappointment with the perfect last over to give Hungary an 11-run win!

PIT also won, against Schwerin, which left the two Hungarian sides playing for 5th and 6th places. Compared to Sunday's first match, the bowling in this one was not on the mark and we fell 8 runs short due to all the wides. In truth, PIT outbatted us, scoring 25 to our 24 from our totals of 71 and 63 respectively, so the result was fair. Zsuzsi's fielding (against her own country!) definitely made a difference, as she made some acrobatic saves from Nika's off-drives.

So 3 Hungarians came 5th and 9 Hungarians came 6th. And we made lots of new friends in a super-friendly tournament. Shirehampton came unstuck in the final against their local rivals Thornbury, while Holland outplayed Oldenburg to claim third place.

Special mention must be made for Anna, who kept wicket very well throughout the tournament, and for Claudia, who got better and better as a captain. Enikő, Mirtill and Blanka (on the first day) were not overawed by the environment and Nika came good with the bat, scoring 47 runs and only getting out twice.

Away from the action, we were given a guided tour of historic Potsdam and fed nicely at Kemnitz. The hostel that all the teams stayed in was great and we were even fed for free, when the English girls decided to abandon their pre-ordered Sunday dinners and go out on the town to celebrate their first and second places!

For almost half of our girls it was their first time on an aeroplane, but apart from some earache due to some turbulence and a fast descent, nobody was troubled. They will have to get used to travelling - we have been invited to Germany, Holland and England later in the year thanks to the impression the Hungarian girls made on the other coaches.

Now we just have to keep the ball rolling...