In a great leap forward for junior cricket in Hungary, 49 children played in the first-ever tournament for primary schools in the country. Seven teams from four different cities took part, hosted by Szandaszőlős Primary School in Szolnok, just over 100km east of Budapest.

Cricket coaching in Szolnok began in September 2007, when Jerry Bloemsma decided to start an after-school club. The kids of Jankay Tibor bilingual primary school in Békéscsaba (a further 100km east) have also enjoyed cricket for a couple of years, coached by Simon Metcalfe, while the Comenius players present (including 5 who came just to watch and help out) are part of a junior cricket programme introduced in September 2006 in Székesfehérvár by Andy Grieve. Three expat children from Budapest played with the Comenius players.

This was the first time that the 3 coaches had got together to discuss plans, as well as compare the progress of their teams.All three coaches are primarily English teachers, but share a love of the game that they have clearly given to the children.

The two groups each had a local Szanda team and two Jankay teams, with the combined Comenius/Budapest team playing in Group A. The format was 6 overs per innings, with players retiring out on 15 runs.

Szanda 1 got the day off to a flying start with victory over the all-girl team Jankay 2 in Group A - Bence hit his first ball for six and was the first player to retire, closely followed by his team-mate Tamás. The girls battled bravely but couldn't quite reach their target of 60. Comenius/Budapest struggled to victory over the girls of Jankay 3, losing 4 wickets on the way, but later found their groove to easily overcome Jankay 2 and Szanda 1 and top the group. Szanda 1 finished second to reach the semi-finals, leaving the Jankay girls to fight for some pride - they produced the highest-scoring match of the day, with 5 batters reaching double figures.

Jankay 1 seemed to be in charge of Group B, but a strange result in the last match (against rivals Jankay 4) blocked their progress. Chasing 65 to win, they ran out of batsmen because 3 had retired, including Gergely, who smashed 16 runs off the first three balls of their innings. That meant a bowl-out to decide who finished where in the group, as each team had won one, lost one. Szanda 2 hit the wicket first, followed by Jankay 4, so the big-hitting, fast-running, spin-bowling Jankay 1 players finished their day early after just two matches.

The semi-finals were low-scoring affairs, with Comenius/Budapest knocking off the runs in just two overs, while Szanda 2 needed 5.1 overs and the cool head of Fanni to see them through. The 3rd-4th place play-off saw more runs on the board, with Tamás and Roland retiring for Szanda 1 and Csilla hitting two straight sixes as they racked up 62 runs, then restricted Jankay 4 to just 43 in reply.

So to the final, between the locals and the longest travellers (over 2 hours from Székesfehérvár). An assured 15 from Cazaib looked like giving the away team a platform to build on, but some good bowling and a great catch kept the score down to 50. However, Szanda 2 never looked like threatening that, with only Fanni scoring runs - she was 5th out for 14 in the last over.

Thanks to support from the Hungarian Cricket Association and Anita-Hungaria, as well as the individual schools, each player received a medal, the top three teams were presented with cups and Jankay Tibor school were given a new KwikCricket set. They'll also need pads, gloves and helmets soon, as plans are being made for the first-ever outdoor school championship in May, as well as trips to Vienna and Zagreb to take part in school tournaments there.