Cuba national cricket team
| Cuba | |
 | |
| ICC membership granted | 2002 |
| ICC member status | Affiliate member |
| ICC development region | Americas |
| World Cricket League division | n/a |
| Captain | Unknown |
| Coach | {{{current_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.that tournament was played between the university students of different colleges and the final was played between Pakistani students of Cien Fuegos university and international school of sports in Havana which included mainly graduates from West Indies ,South Africa, Sri Lanka and India and the final was won by the Pakistani students by 27 runs, this was their first participation in the tournament and they were unbeaten in all 8 matches. In 2014 they defended their trophy by winning the Ambassadors cup. In 2015 the Pakistanis will graduate and will take no more part in the tournaments. The matches are usually played in a football stadium and a sports complex called Edwardo saborit complex in Havana. As there are no professional groundsmen, a plastic mat pitch of is used that was given by the Indian and British embassies in Cuba. David Lloyd an international umpire and professional cricketer from West Indies and now a nationalized Canadian, helps with the equipment of cricket and the Cuban coach since 1986 Humberto arrange the matches and conduct cricket in Cuba. now there are some semiprofessional teams of different municipalities who play cricket locally and little by little the Cuban people are showing interest in the game of cricket although some people around Cuba still call it "cricker".[1]
References
- ↑ "Cricket on Times of India | Live Cricket Score, Cricket News, India Cricket". Cricket.indiatimes.com. Retrieved 2012-08-13.
