Michael Meade

The last few months in Chilean cricket have been quite busy with the ICC Centennial beach cricket tournament in Vina del Mar followed by three touring sides (Honourable Artillery Company CC, Falkland CC & Hollywood Goldien Oldies ) as well as the beginning of the second half of Chile's domestic competition, the Metropolitan Cup.

The Chilean youth development program that started in 2002 is finally starting to reflect on the national team. The Chile squad for South American Championships (SAC) in Sao Paulo includes four Chileans.

Christian Eyzaguirre and Thomas Dawes are both products of the youth development program and we are excited to see them make their debut at the SAC. Tristan Bradbrook and Pablo Mejias learnt their cricket in Australia and will also be making their debuts. Eyzaguirre, Dawes and Bradbrook are all members of Chile’s Under-19 squad which is planning on participating in the ICC Americas U-19 tournament later this year. This will be the first time that Chile will compete at the U-19 level.

The rest of the team consists of four players from last year’s Americas World Cricket League Division 3 squad as well as a pair of expats that were short of their seven year residence requirements in Chile but do have Chilean wives. The squad also welcomes back former national captain Stuart Nelson. Current captain Simon Shalders will not be traveling to Sao Paulo as he and his wife Tatiana await the arrival of their child who is due the same week as the tournament.

The national squad has been training on Friday evenings at the Casa Roja after the U-19 squad training.

Continue reading "Chile squad benefits from youth programme"

On Sunday November 23, the Chilean Cricket Association organised the first National Under-15’s Trios Tournament, which was held at The Grange School, Santiago.

Eight teams from Santiago, Viña del Mar and Chillán competed throughout the morning in a cup and plate competition, with Viña del Mar taking top honours. In the plate final, Chillán ‘A’ edged Santiago ‘B’ . The day also saw the inaugural Timothy W. Messner Cup as The Regions took
on Santiago at U-15 level in a twenty over encounter.

The Regions batted first and made a patient 79 all out. In reply, a clearly pumped Regional bowling unit bowled as a pack and ran amok with a batting line up that, on paper, should have easily chased down the total. Santiago collapsed for 19 all out.

The cup was named in honour of the ‘Godfather’ of Chilean cricket development and former ICC Volunteer of the Year, Tim Messner, who moves back to his native Australia in early 2009 having set in motion one of South America’s most exciting development programs.

Michael Meade

What promises to be a busy 2008-09 Chilean season kicked off on October 5, with the traditional season opening friendly between the President's XI and the Grange XI.

The President XI's, mainly thanks to 69 from Dawie van der Merwe, compiled 159 from their 26.2 overs before skittling the Grange XI for 127.

While the six team Metropolitan Cup will form the basis of the Chilean domestic season Cricket Chile officials are pleased that the work of national development officer, Patricio Caamaño (in the 5th region, Valparaiso), has paid off.

One of the benefits of this work is the new field at the St. Peter’s School. Beginning in February, three teams in the 5th region will contest the first ever Freddy Brown Cup. Freddy Brown went to St. Peters school before moving back to England.

Viña del Mar CC, Renaca CC and Con Con CC will play three rounds of Twenty20 cricket at St. Peters School on Saturdays followed by Metropolitan Cup matches as the Viña del Mar XI will be hosting the other five teams from Santiago on Sundays. The Viña del Mar XI is a select team from the 5th region teams. Development in this region has been very satisfying for the ACC as Viña del Mar CC and Renaca CC are almost 100% Chilean with only one or two ex-pats.

Meanwhile, a motley collection of visiting teams will give the summer an international feel.

Titan CC, an over-50s team from Canada, arrives next month, followed by a British navy frigate in early December which will dock in Valparaiso for a game.

English club side Stoic CC will stop off in Buenos Aires in January to play the Argentine national team as a warm-up for the World Cricket League Division Three tournament, prior to touching down in Santiago for two matches.

Next up is the Honorable Artillery Company CC, also from England, which will visit in February.

Chile's preparations for the South American Championships in Sao Pao Paulo, Brazil at Easter will peak when they are joined by Hampshire Seniors, Falkland CC and Hollywood Golden Oldies for a quadrangular in March.

Falkland CC tour to South America is part reciprocal, as they hosted the Falkland Islands cricket team earlier this year.

Michael Meade is the president of Chile Cricket. For more information on cricket in Chile, go to http://www.cricketchile.cl/

Next week's ICC annual get-together promises to have more than its fair share of politicking, posturing and controversy. But, unless there is a major about-turn, it should also be a watershed for the Associates and Affiliates.

In 2009, income from the ICC's six-year media deal with ESPN-Star, worth over US$1 billion, kicks in, and while the game's big boys will still keep the lion's share, the rest will see substantial increases in their incomes.

Continue reading "Future bright beyond the Test world"

Chilean National Development Officer, Patricio Caamano, is currently finalising plans to run
a high performance program throughout the winter months for the Under-13, Under-15 and Under-19 national team squads. It will be the first time that Chile has run such a program and is expected to see a vast improvement by the Chilean junior squads in international competition for the 2008-09 season.

The academy will be based at Chile’s principal training facility, Las Casa Roja, and will see the three squads working on batting, bowling, fielding, fitness and tactics. The academy will run from June to September.

From the ICC Americas newsletter

The 2007-08 season got off to a good start with six teams now competing for the Metropolitan Cup after the addition of newcomers Estacion Central. La Reina CC currently lie in first position after a strong showing with 4 wins out of 5. More youth have come into the matches in the form of native born Chileans. The second half of the season is about to kick off with Santiago CC and Las Condes CC snapping at La Reina’s heels.

The Chilean Condors played host to touring side Craigengower from Hong Kong in January. It was a golden opportunity for the captain of the national selection (Simon Shalders) and President of the ACC (Guy Hooper) to do some talent scouting for the ICC Americas Division 3 Championship. Craigengower put up a brave fight but the Chilean team was far too strong and in form to ever feel threatened by the tourists.

They say every good book or movie should have a dynamic beginning, a solid middle to keep your interest and a surprise and thrilling ending. If the 2008 Americas Division 3 was a movie or book it had the perfect script.

Continue reading "Turks & Caicos edge thriller in Americas Championship"

The number of people actively participating in cricket outside the Test-playing countries increased 17% in 2007, according to the ICC.

The research, carried out by the ICC's development program, was collated from 33 Associate and 58 Affiliate members. It showed that there were 338,051 male and female players in those countries in 2007, an increase of 49,158 on the previous year. Since 2002, when there were 144,047 participants, there has been a 135% rise.

Click here for the full story.

Chile maintained their unbeaten record with a 54-run win over neighbours Peru on the third day of the ICC Americas Division 3 tournament in Argentina. Chile were pressed all the way and at 68 for 6 appeared to be on course for a low score. But Tim Messner (57) and Kamran Zeb (41) added 75 runs for the ninth wicket as Chile climbed to 203 all out. Peru had troubles of their own as they slumped to 5 for 4, and despite a sixth-wicket stand of 62 between Ahmed Nadeem (53) and D. Lakdal (49) they were bowled out for 149 in 38 overs. In the other game Brazil slid to their third loss in as many days as they were bowled out for 169, a total Turks and Caicos Islands passed for the loss of five wickets.

Chile now have three wins from three games and need to beat Brazil in their final game on Friday to win the tournament.

Remaining matches

Friday 15 February - Belize v Peru, Brazil v Chile

Saturday 16 February - Belize v Turks & Caicos Islands, Brazil v Peru,

Chile dominated the first two days of the ICC Americas Division 3 tournament in Argentina, beating pre-tournament favourites Belize by 26 runs on the opening day after posting 271 for 6, with their captain Simon Shalders leading the way with an 84-ball 104. In the day’s other game, Peru, only admitted to ICC membership in 2007, went down to an eight-wicket defeat to Turks & Caicos Islands combination, whose veteran captain Ralph Doughty took 4 for 18 in 9.2 overs.

On the second day Chile powered to an eight-wicket win over Turks and Caicos Islands. Turks and Caicos were bowled out for 252, with Donvan Mathews’ 68 the top score. Chile's Paul Woolocombe lead the chase with an unbeaten 104 with captain Simon Shalders scoring 69. In the other match Belize beat Brazil by 138 runs, bowling out the Brazilians for 55.

Delegates from Chile’s cricket playing schools, along with development staff, met in Santiago on December 28, 2007 to review the year’s activities and plan ahead for the next 12 months. Eight delegates representing a total of twelve schools attended the meeting – the first of its kind in Chile. High on the agenda was a review of the inaugural Homework Club School Cricket League, which was launched last September in an attempt to encourage more children to take the step up from softball to hardball cricket. The initiative was applauded by the nine participating schools, with plans to increase the number of fixtures next year and the possibility of starting in August 2008. Several other hardball tournaments were scheduled for March to May as Chile prepares to send Under-19, Under-15 and Under-13 sides on international tours over the coming months. However, the most important detail to come from the meeting was the delegation’s decision to make 2008 the year to focus on the Spirit of Cricket and ensuring that all children have fun playing cricket and want to keep coming back. With over 2,000 children involved in Chile’s development program and an excellent development staff headed by NDO David Mauro, 2008 promises to be another good year for Chilean cricket.

From ICC Americas’ regional newsletter

Michael Meade reports on a busy start to the season in Chile

Continue reading "Chile season off to a flier"

The strong MCC A side, which visited Papua New Guinea and New Zealand during the first half of March, returned home undefeated. The first four matches were close-fought contests. However, the final two matches of the tour, against an Otago Country XI and Auckland Emerging Players XI, were won by seven wickets and 57 runs respectively. The touring team consisted of six first-class cricketers, including England wicketkeeper Geraint Jones.

Later in March an MCC B tour to Brazil and Chile took place. The team played six matches, two against Brazil, followed by four against Chile.

It won't get many column inches in the mainstream cricket press, but the World Cricket League, which started in Nairobi yesterday and continues into next week, features the best of the rest, the six sides just under the ten Test-playing countries. For the two finalists, the rewards are bountiful - a place among the big boys in the inaugural Twenty20 World Championship in South Africa this September, along with $250,000. For countries used to surviving on annual handouts from the ICC of less than $200,000, that's big money.

Continue reading "A long way from home"

Tony Munro, Cricinfo's Beyond the Test World columnist, has written about Chile and their forthcoming preparations for the ICC tournament