Living in Peru : your everyday companion

It was a beautiful Sunday morning, the temperature was a perfect 82°F with a slight breeze and the Sun was shining brightly. It was a perfect day for a sporting event. As I looked out the window of my apartment the trees sparkled in the morning sunlight like jade and the smells of breakfasts being cooked floated through my window. The Pacific Ocean was calm and a thin fog hung off the coastline. I could actually see the playing fields of the Club from my window and the grounds keepers as they prepared the playing field for the matches. At the appointed time I walked over to the Club and met Julian at the entrance. He sat with me for about 30 minutes going over the history of the club, who the teams were and things I should watch for to help me enjoy the game. He also explained that Peru was involved in International as well as local competitions. They would be attending matches in Brazil in April. In addition, I had gone on line and looked up the rules of the game and how the scoring works. I learned enough from the short video and the rules page that I found on the internet to understand the basics of what would be going on during the game.

The Lima Cricket and Football Club is very nice. The grounds are immaculate and the Club House well maintained with a nice restaurant and bar. They had a nice menu and the small lunch I had there was excellent. The sporting events they hold there are open to the public. The Club was celebrating its 150th anniversary this year and yes, that’s how long Cricket has been played in Peru. I think that the field of play for Cricket may have been just a bit small as they had to draw the boundaries (Out of Bounds Line for all you baseball fans) curving around some obstacles like bleachers and a tennis/basketball court.

Julian explained that this was a 20/20 Competition and there were four teams involved. They were, the Kite Flyers, Eidegenossen, Lima Cricket and Chak De. This is a shortened game compared to “Test Cricket” matches which can apparently take up to 5 days to play. They had been competing over the three weekends and the winner would be determined by most matches won. In the event of a tie it would go to most runs scored with some complicated rules involved. The first match was already in progress when we sat down to talk so he was able to explain some of the actions on the field to help me better appreciate the game.

Watching the matches was kind of like watching a combination of Baseball and Football (Soccer for you Americanos). It was fascinating to watch the game being played. Learning some of the rules and how scoring is done helped me enjoy the game a lot more than I would have without the research. I will fully admit that some if the game escaped me. For example, what an “over” consists of and how it is determined when it happens. How “Outs” were called and “Runs” scored were easy to understand for the most part. The players definitely have to be fairly athletic. Running across the field and sliding in front of the hit ball to keep it from crossing the boundary is an example. Still it is a game that can be played by men well into their 50’s and possibly 60’s. The Bowlers (pitcher for baseball fans) put their whole body into the throw. They use a running throw and it was exhausting just to watch these guys. The catcher is the only person allowed to wear gloves which is amazing considering how hard the ball is. The field of play is elliptical and there is no out of bounds that I could discern. Before long I found myself yelling “Well Played” and “Nice Block” along with the other spectators who were there. It was a day well spent and I hope to be able to enjoy watching more matches and learning the game even better in the future. So if you have the chance to attend one of these matches don’t let terms like Bail, Wicket, Boundary, Bowler, Crease, Pitch, Dibbly Dobbly and Donkey Drop scare you away. I thoroughly enjoyed my day at these matches and found the play exciting and interesting. I hope any of you reading this will take the opportunity to attend a match given the chance.

To learn more about Rodney, you can read his bio at the end of this article! 

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There are six balls (like pitches) in an over in cricket.

Every sport can be played by people who are in their 50s and 60s. But the question is at what level? Just 2 days ago, the world cup winning Pakistan captain retired from T20 at age 34 and happen to mention that T20 [i.e, at the international level] is for younger people. At his age, he cannot cope with demands of the T20 sport.

While sports are intended to be about having fun and enjoying yourself, Raj makes an excellent point. Hence the need to develop the sport in schools here. A start has been made at place like Markham, Hiram Bingham, San Silvestre and Cambridge, but more schools need to get involved. Countries like Argentina, Chile, and Brazil already play the sport at schoolboy level. In fact Argentina competes at a high standard internationally. Peru is starting to make an impression in rugby, so there's no reason why it can't do the same with cricket. The ICC, cricket's international governing body is putting money into developing cricket in the region, including Peru. That means the time to do something about developing cricket is now. Anyone interested in the sport or in playing, at whatever level, should contact Julian Walter at julianwalterinperu@gmail.com or Harry Hildebrand at hildebra@markham.edu.pe.

There is no reason why Peru should continue to be a sporting non-entity (with a few notable exceptions: Kina, Sofia, etc,) and given its consistent failure at football it´s high time to get behind other sports by promoting them among the country's youth.

Vamos Peru!

As far as I can remember 'LIMA PERU' IS in AMERICA The americain continent!!!! IT's called SOUTH AMERICA!

Hola 1980,
Wrong! But not completely. Lima is on one of TWO continents in the Western Hemisphere, otherwise known as "The Americas."
North and South America.

I understand your point. But I think we can all agree that the USA is commonly (if unjustly) referred to as 'America.'

I'm wondering if hola1980 even read the article or if he/she just got hung up on the title and the sinister US plot for regionwide domination... 

Yeah i was wondering the same thing. I would love to go to any of the games, I just dont know when and at what time! But it would be definetly aswesome to watch you guys play!