da bwin： First ever Argentina-Chile u/15 tour takes place in Santiago
da jogodeouro： Juan Pablo Fassnidge & Dean Ilott06-May-2003Argentina sent a junior cricket team to Chile for the first time ever lastmonth. The under-15 Argentines played their Chilean peers in threelimited-over games in Santiago.This might seem like small potatoes at first, but make no mistake; this wasan historic occasion in the development of cricket this side of the Andes.Even a couple of years ago, Argentine cricket authorities would have laughedat the idea of sending a junior team to Chile. This tour shows how far Chilehas progressed as a true cricketing nation, thanks to the commitment of ahandful of locals who have coached youngsters and prepared new wickets, suchas Tim Messner, Bruce Phillips, Blair Douglas and Stuart Nelson, and thededication of the young brigade, who are the future of cricket here.The first match was played at the Craighouse ground, on Tuesday 15th. Chile’s captain Juan Pablo Fassnidge elected to field first. The decisionimmediately paid dividends when vice-captain Luke Phillips blasted out twowickets, followed by spinner Max Ananias, who also took two. But the star ofthe match was wicket-keeper and spin bowler Philip Marriott, who bagged sixwickets, destroying the Argentine lower order for a total of 125. But inreply, Chile fell 20 runs short of the target, despite Phillips’ inningswhich included three sixes.The second match was played at The Grange, on a very overcast day, inducingprodigous swing conditions which the young Argentines took advantage of.This time, Argentina won the toss and sent Chile in. Opening batsman RupertTurner lasted the whole 25 overs to give 11 runs to his team, showing anintelligent and selective batting. But Chile could only muster 76, whichArgentina knocked off without fuss.On Friday at the Prince of Wales Country Club the last 30-over match wasplayed. Once again, Chile won the toss and fielded, doing well to restrictthe strong Argentine line-up to 150 on a true pitch and a small ground. ForChile, Phillips, Ananias, Thomas Dawes and Sebastian Parr shared thewickets, but a few dropped catches let the Argies off the hook slightly.This time, Chile changed the batting order to allow players who had not hada chance in the earlier games some time in the middle. Chile ended upposting 115 with some contributions down the order.Despite the 3-0 scoreline the Chilean players did themselves proud, both intheir collective efforts and the way they conducted themselves. TheArgentines too proved good ambassadors for their country and the game.Argentina has a solid cricketing infrastructure and these lads have somethree years experience of the sport, while most of the Chileans had 3months’ training.
