Medellin CC Camilo Mejia runs into bowl. Photo: Simon Willis
Colombia makes cricketing history with Bogota League and Medellin festival
A dedicated bunch of cricket enthusiasts are celebrating a landmark February in the history of the sport in Colombia, after Bogota CC visited recently formed Medellin Cricket Club for a two match series while the first ever Bogota Cricket League hit its swing.
Bogota can now boast three cricket clubs: BSC Leones; Flamin’ Galahs; and Bogota Indians. The trio have been playing a league throughout February, with the Galahs and Indians due to compete for the championship in March. It is the first time competitive domestic cricket has been played in Colombia.
“The level of fun and the standard of cricket has certainly risen now that each game has context,” said Ryan Butta, captain of Colombia’s national cricket team, which played its first ever international tournament against Peru and Brazil last October, and is now looking ahead to this autumn’s South American Championships.
Medellin CC was only formed in August 2014, but the club put up a great showing to lose narrowly in a two match series against a touring side from Bogota in the last week of February. The club from The City of Eternal Spring looks sure to provide stiff competition for the teams of Cali and Bogota in their next encounters.
Cricket’s growth in Colombia is owed to both a larger influx of expats from cricket-playing countries and a growing number of locals who have caught the cricket bug either from living abroad or through cricket-mad friends and relatives.
Plans are now afoot to start coaching youngsters in the capital, with Bogota hoping to host a junior team from Cali’s four-year old cricket academy in June.
Check out the CRICKET COLOMBIA facebook group for more information.
By Olly West
