- Title: CUBA: CRICKET IS GAINING POPULARITY IN CUBA
- Date: 29th June 2005
- Summary: HAVANA, CUBA (FILE) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF AUDIENCE ATTENDING A GAME BY THE CUBAN BASEBALL TEAM VARIOUS OF THE CUBAN BASEBALL TEAM
- Embargoed: 14th July 2005 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: HAVANA, CUBA
- Country: Cuba
- Topics: Quirky,Science,Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky,Sports
- Reuters ID: LVAEBSLXOOOUKV3SKXN383MCIGO4
- Story Text: Although baseball may be the national passion,
cricket is gaining gound in Cuba where the sport is
becoming poular in many Havana neighbourhoods.
While it may not be the first sport associated with
Cuba, cricket is gaining ground in many parts of this
Caribbean island.
In the mostly-black district of Alamar, on the east
side of Havana, juniors now practice with plastic stumps
and cricket balls donated by the Canadian Cricket
Association. Before that, they started out with balls made
of socks by Victor Aldana, who carves bats with machetes
out of old door posts retrieved from rubbish dumps.
Aldana's wife Reina, has cricket in her blood.
"I began observing this game in Guantnamo when I was
just a baby, 5 years old 6 years old more or less, and then
I enjoyed it and now I'm trying to do my best for my ancestors," said
R
eina, who is the secretary of the Cuban
Cricket Commission.
Despite their lack of equipment, young Cubans are
taking up cricket in growing numbers, in a country where
baseball is the national passion. Some, like Ivan Chavez,
have already made the switch.
"I played baseball before, and I quit that and as I saw
this game and I liked it, I began to play this," he said.
Baseballers sharing the field observed the bizarre
sport with a mix of scorn and curiosity. Baseball die-hard
Ignasio Torres refuses to rate cricket at all.
"It's a bore, all that running about, with those little
bats, it's nothing like baseball," he said.
In the poor Havana suburb of Guanabacoa, keen
adolescents gather on weekends to practice, coached by
Indian diplomats. They play with bats, balls and pads
donated by foreigners. Santosh Rawat, an attach from the
Indian embassy, claims that Cubans take to the sport very
quickly.
"They seem to be picking up the game quite better. They
are very good in fielding and throwing, and batting. They
are quite good on the left side because it provably comes
from baseball," said Rawat.
More than 2,000 juniors and adults are playing cricket
today in nine of Cuba's 13 provinces. According to cricket
trainer Anthony Towie, the country is poised for great
things, with a bit of assistance.
"If they help us, we in Cuba can get somewhere. The
best fielders are here in Cuba, they say," he claimed.
Cricket peaked in the 1950's and died out after
President Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution steered to Cuba
toward socialism and state-organized sports. - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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