Cuba national cricket team

Cuba
Flag of Cuba
ICC membership granted	2002
ICC member status	Affiliate member
ICC development region	Americas
World Cricket League division	n/a
Captain	Unknown
Coach	}
First recorded match	1952 v Jamaica
As of 31 July 2007

The origins of the Cuban cricket team were in the 1920s when an influx of sugar workers from Jamaica and Barbados brought cricket to the plantations on the east of Cuba. Their teams played in leagues and cup competitions in Santiago de Cuba, Guantánamo and Baraguá.

Cuba's first international match was in 1952 against a Jamaican team which included Jamaica's former Governor-General, Howard Cooke.

By the late 1990s cricket had spread to Havana, where there are more than 500 players. More than 2,000 juniors and adults play cricket today, and some schools are teaching the game. More than 20 teams recently took part in a national under-15 tournament.

Today there is pressure to expand cricket in Cuba: the government has said that it wants to be more closely aligned with other Caribbean countries. In 2002 Cuba became an affiliate member of the International Cricket Council.

The president of the Cuban Cricket Commission is Leona Ford. After hearing of a speech she had given, Cooke persuaded Courtney Walsh to become involved and raise equipment for Cuban teams. Donations have also come from South Africa, India, Sri Lanka, Guyana, Canada, India and Britain. Former Indian One-day all-rounder Robin Singh travelled to Cuba in 2007 and formed a coaching team to train young players. Now for the first time in the history of Cuba a 20-Twenty match is being played between local teams including Ciudad Deportivo, Elam, Giron, and Pakistani Students. The first match will be played in Havana on 8 February 2013.^[1]

References

• Britain backs Cuba's cricket revolution
• Castro leads Cuba's cricketing revolution

External links

• Havana Cricket Club