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4 September, 2009 11:01:30 | in sports

Cricketing in Peru

By
Miles Buesst

With Peruvian football somewhat in the doldrums, the readers of Living in Peru may like to hear about a sport which is on an upward trajectory and perhaps they will offer their moral support to Peru’s cricketers in an upcoming international tournament.

The 2008/09 season has been one of consolidation and progress for the Peru Cricket Association (PCA), but challenges still lie ahead. We saw more people participating in cricket, in various forms, than ever before and our plans to (re)introduce cricket to local and international schools have begun to take root.

The playing season began in September with a weekly indoor cricket session at Markham College. This culminated in the 3rd Annual Cricket Veloz Championship on Sunday, December 14th, with four teams out of 11 competing for the coveted Chimu Adventures Trophy.

The outdoor season ran from February to April, played at Lima Cricket & Football Club. As well as ten friendly tournaments that attracted some 50 players in total, we held the 3rd Annual Twenty20 Championship over 3 weekends in March, with India-Pakistan XI ending as deserving winners of the Chimu Adventures Shield. We were also honoured to host a touring side, the Hollywood Golden Oldies, for a weekend in March. Sadly, a planned visit by the Guyana Masters in April was cancelled at the last minute.

The national team participated in the 8th South American Championship (SAC) in Sao Paulo in April. Despite picking up the wooden spoon, it was a great experience for the Peru team and a good indicator of where we need to go in terms of performance development. It was also a pleasure to be able to attend the championship held in Brazil for the first time, and congratulations to Cricket Brasil for hosting such a successful event.

The average age of the Peru team at the SAC was 41.2 – a stark reminder that youth development is essential to the future of Peruvian cricket! To that end, our focus has been on schools cricket, with four colleges in Lima participating so far (around 80 boys and girls are currently involved). The PCF is now funding coaching in two schools, Markham College and Hiram Bingham; we have acquired a lot more kids' cricket equipment; and, in November, we were able to hold a mixed, 11-a-side, under-13, inter-schools game at Markham, with the visiting side, San Silvestre School, emerging victorious in what we hope will be the first of many such games.

Away from the playing field there have also been developments. Most notably, the PCA is close to achieving official recognition from the Peruvian Government, which is a crucial administrative step in the game’s development.

So, we approach the 2009/10 season with a good deal of optimism, aiming to build on this progress. We plan to double the number of teams participating in the annual Twenty20 Championship to eight, as a means of expanding the player base.

We have been exploring various locations where we can install a new, artificial cricket strip, and after a few false dawns, we have been given the green light to use an area at Cambridge College in Lima. We have been disappointed in the past, so our fingers are firmly crossed that this really comes to fruition.

We would also like to develop cricket outside of its traditional centre, Lima. The two cities targeted are Cusco, where a group of ex-pats has already staged a historic game in the shadow of Sacsayhuaman, at 3,500m above sea level; and Tacna, near the border with Chile, which has a sizable Asian population, and already provides players for the Peru national team. It is hoped that a team from Lima can make the trip to one or both of these places to play cricket in the coming year.

This coming October 8th to 13th, we will be sending a men's team to the International Cricket Council Americas Division III Championship in Santiago and (light!) training has already begun for the 14-man squad in the hope that we can represent Peru with distinction.

For more information on cricket in, for or against Peru, please visit our fledgling website by clicking here. We are always keen to welcome new participants, of any age, sex, nationality or body shape.

tags : Peru, Lima, Cricket, Cusco

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1 Comments

# Jackie says :
9 September, 2009 [ 02:34 ]

I'm so glad that cricketing is becoming big in Peru. Sounds like lots of fun. Team Peru good luck in your future games and God bless.

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