Colombia: Possible South American Championships gig adds to Colombian cricket's renewed hope

January, the month of budgets and plans applies to cricket in Colombia as well., especially, after 2001 proved to be a year of renewed hope with plenty of new faces and lots of enthusiasm.

The visit of our friends in Panama last year showed us that with a little organization and a bit of sacrifice we can do the same; our hopes for this year is to participate in the South American Championships in Buenos Aires in December, the news that this event was being organized just reached us and we hope that it becomes a reality.

A tour always is an incentive to practice harder and serves as a means to promote the sport amongst the fringe and lesser lights of the game; tours in Colombia are not common events, soccer, the main sport is played in parks, streets, any open space, but it lacks real organization at a national level. Club sides visiting other cities, or travelling to neighbouring countries just doesn't occur. So even for that reason, cricket is a strange game to Colombians.

With the newly formed, Colombia Cricket Association (CCA), we are hoping to promote the game in a more official manner, developing the game amongst the schools, starting with the British ones and then moving foward slowly with the rest. Unfortunately, we cannot expect to receive financial help from the Government as sports have a small budget and a large bureaucracy, so all expenses have to be met by the individual players or private fund raising. Our only help in the form of equipment, coach, materials, etc., may come from the ICC, if the ICC accepts our application as Affiliate Members; this we have to wait and see.

Perhaps one of the most pleasant surprises in the past year has been the arrival of a number of Indian players, mostly computer experts that are in Colombia on short term contracts, their skills and enthusiasm have been much needed qualities that makes the matches enjoyable and are a great asset to the game in Colombia.

The arrival of Mr. Tom Duggan as British Ambassador in Colombia has been another ray of light for cricket as well, on March 3rd, the first match in twenty years between Bogota and Cali will be played in Cali. The match will take place in the Colombo Britanico School and will be the first step to introduce the game into the school system. The organization of the match is in the capable hands of Mr. Peter Lawrence, British Consul in Cali and one of the few resident cricketers.

At the north end of the country, Mr. Steve Meadows has appeared from the blue and has been quietly working in promoting the game in the famous city of Cartagena. If cricket can get off the ground in Cartagena, there will be no end to the touring teams wanting to arrange matches and take advantage of this special tourist attraction.

The center of cricket activity continues to be Bogota, capital of Colombia with a population of anywhere between 8 to 9 million people depending on the amount the local politician needs from the National Government. The list of players varies from 30 to 40 players, the main problem is the large turn over of players, the majority are teachers and /or executives with foreign companies, the majority over 30 years of age that play the game for recreation. That however, does not mean that Colombia will not be a major factor in Buenos Aires !!