Cricket in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

is a minor but growing sport. The Chilean playing season runs from September to December. There are at least 10 cricket clubs and 2 turf pitches in Chile.

History

Cricket is first recorded as having been played in Chile at

Valparaíso Valparaíso (; ) is a major city, seaport, naval base, and educational centre in the commune of Valparaíso, Chile. "Greater Valparaíso" is the second largest metropolitan area in the country. Valparaíso is located about northwest of Santiago ...

in 1829 between the crew of two

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

vessels. The countries oldest cricket club, Valparaíso Cricket Club was formed in 1860 and hosted regular matches throughout the 19th and early 20th century between the clubs of Concepción and the Prince of Wales Country Club. These teams mostly contained

British expatriates British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

. In 1893, Chile played its first international match against

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

, a fixture in which it took the Argentine team 3 days to cross the

Andes The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...

to reach

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...

to fulfill the fixture. The exodus of British expatriates in the post war years led to a rapid decline in the sport in Chile. From the 1960s onward, the game was just about kept alive by the few expatriates that remained. In 2001, Chile were admitted to the

International Cricket Council The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the world governing body of cricket. Headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, its members are List of International Cricket Council members, 108 national associations, with 12 List of Internation ...

as an Affiliate member. They made their debut in an ICC event in the 2006 Americas Championship Division Three. Chile have played in this division ever since and will played in it once again in 2011. The game in Chile has an ambitious development programme to take the game to the local population, which has focused on a large part to introducing the sport to schools, with an estimated 3,000 children having been introduced to cricket.

Governing body

The

Chilean Cricket Association The Chilean Cricket Association ( es, Asociación Chilena de Cricket) is the official governing body of the sport of cricket in Chile. Its current headquarters is in Santiago, Chile. The organisation is Chile's representative at the International Cr ...

is the official

governing body A governing body is a group of people that has the authority to exercise governance over an organization or political entity. The most formal is a government, a body whose sole responsibility and authority is to make binding decisions in a taken ge ...

of cricket in Chile. Its current headquarters is in

. Asociación Chilena de Cricket is Chile's representative at the International Cricket Council.

Domestic competitions

The main domestic tournament in Chile is the Metropolitan Cup, which contains 6 teams. This competition has been held since the 2001/02 season. There is a second division which contains 4 teams. Alongside this is the Condaroo 20/20 League, which is played in the

Twenty20 Twenty20 (T20) is a shortened game format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two teams have a single innin ...

format.

Domestic teams

Listed below are 6 clubs that currently make up the Metropolitan Cup, the highest level of domestic cricket in Chile: *Las Condes Cricket Club *Santiago Cricket Club *La Dehesa Cricket Club *Viña XI Cricket Club *La Reina Cricket Club *Estación Central Cricket Club

Grounds

There are currently 7 cricket grounds in Chile. Only two of these have turf pitches.Cricket grounds in Chile
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National team

The

Chile national cricket team The Chile national cricket team is the team that represents Chile in international cricket. The team is organised by the Chilean Cricket Association, which became an affiliate member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) in 2001 and an ass ...

represents the country in

international cricket International cricket matches are played between teams representing their nations, normally organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). The main forms are Test matches, One-Day matches and Twenty20 matches. Most games are played ...

matches. The national team, formed in 2006. They play in the

ICC Americas Championship The ICC Americas Championship is a one-day cricket tournament organised by ICC Americas for non-Test national cricket teams in the Americas affiliated with the International Cricket Council. As well as providing the opportunity for national teams ...

References

External links

CricketChile site
{{National Cricket Articles