Totally Home Grown

FULL NAME: Matias Joaquin Paterlini
KNOWN AS: Matias
DOB: 31 December 1977
POB: Lomas de Zamora, Buenos Aires, Argentina

WHAT NATIONALITY ARE YOUR PARENTS?: Argentine

CLUBS?: St.Alban's Old Boys CC

WHAT ARE YOUR SPECIALITIES?: Top-order batsman, off-spin bowler, both right-handed

WHICH COUNTRIES HAVE YOU PLAYED CRICKET IN: South Africa, New Zealand, England, Malaysia, Chile, Peru

HOW WERE YOU INTRODUCED TO CRICKET?: Visiting professional Andy Moles introduced the game to me at school when I was 10 years old.

WHAT DO YOU LIKE ABT CRICKET THE MOST?: I like everything about cricket - it's a great game. It has also provided me with an opportunity to represent my country, and given me the chance to travel.

WHAT CAN BE DONE TO MAKE CRICKET MORE APPEALING TO ARGENTINES? Shorter versions of the game will attract people here. Also I think coloured clothing and night cricket will be popular.

WHAT DO YOU THINK IS THE BIGGEST DIFFICULTY IN GETTING ARGENTINES TO PLAY CRICKET?: The lifestyle. Everyone is very busy with no time, and most young people have very demanding jobs or study commitments.

WHAT DO YOUR NON-CRICKETING ARGENTINE FRIENDS THINK OF YOU PLAYING CRICKET? They envy the travelling I have done, and they respect my love of the game, now that they learnt to understand it a bit.

WHAT DO YOU THINK IS THEIR IMPRESSION OF IT, IF THEY HAVE ONE? They think it's a bit of a waste of time, it takes too long to play, not like soccer or rugby. They don't have any knowledge of the game, and this is worse here, because we have no cricket on television.

IS THERE ANYTHING THAT IS PARTICULARLY UNIQUE ABT ARGENTINE CRICKET;? Perhaps the language. Also it is played very passionately here, lots of noise and gestures.

WHAT SHOULD BE DONE TO SPREAD CRICKET GLOBALLY? Definitely television. That's a big factor. Also in other forms of the media, newspapers, etc, we get very little exposure, and nothing at all on TV. We also need lots of help from cricketing countries and the ICC. Cricket is easy to introduce here, but very difficult to establish. That needs money and the media. The established cricket countries should get more involved in countries like Argentina to help spread the game, and of course the ICC needs to do everything it can for countries like us in the world.