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Belize is currently hosting the 8th Central American Cricket Championship, and as last tournament's champs, they're defending their title. And this year, they're up against three visiting teams, including one from the UK.
The tournament kicked off today at Bermudian Landing and Courtney Menzies was there for the first match. Here is that story.
The sprawling greens, the crack of the bat, the balletic wind up of the bowlers, the din of excitement and applause from the fans. And the gold medal on the horizon. This is the experience of the cricket players who are currently part of the 8th Central American Cricket Championship Tournament.
According to the president, the sport was on a pandemic pause. But now they're back in full swing and they will be getting cricket back into schools.
Dr. Roy Young, President, Belize National Cicket Association
"Over the years, it hasn't been consistent. So during COVID and so the last one was in 2019, and Belize won that tournament in Mexico City. And so we were to host the 2020 tournaments but that was postponed until now. For cricket in Belize it's the most popular sport in Belize River Valley. So you have a cricket game. The whole family comes up, you have a basketball or a soccer game all of the players come out. So it's deep in our DNA. And so we can sit and watch our game all day. Now for the people in the city, He may not be able to. Yeah. It's boring because they don't understand."
"So what we are trying to do is we are trying to grow the sport and we have started to go in schools and inquire. Just before COVID, we were in some of the largest schools around the Belmopan area and we were to go to Orange Walk and then to the other districts but we are starting that again this year. So the idea then is in 5 to 10 years cricket will be played in districts of of Belize."
Marconi Leal, Area Rep, Belize Rural North
"We're extremely happy to be hosting this big tournament, you know, in Belize Rural north and you do know that cricket is a lifeline of this area, the River Valley area, which encompasses, I think, about 14 villages in in the River Valley area. And almost every single village in this area plays cricket. "
"You're not seeing a whole lot of fans out here this morning, but I know as the days go by, you will see a whole lot of fans coming out to support this tournament. It's very big for this for four days of cricket and we intend to be out here to enjoy some good matches."
Dolores Balderamos Garcia, Area Rep, Belize Rural Central
"It's good to be here. I decided to spend a little while and come. I don't know that much about cricket, but it's good to be here supporting our rural boys here in Bermudian Landing. I know representative Marconi. Leal and his wife are here. It's good to join them. And of course, it's good to spend a little time. It's some it's a part of of the work that we do, you know, as area reps and ministers. And we welcome our visitors to the NCC, we welcome them and we hope that the games will be good."
And the NCC landed in the country last week, traveling all the way from Britain and in Bermudian landing today, The Belizean teams gave it their all as they competed against them while also preparing to take on Mexico and Costa Rica. And as a defending champs, the local players have a good shot at the trophy.
Reporter:
" How confident are you that one of the Belize teams will take the championship?"
Dr. Roy Young, President, Belize National Cicket Association
"I'm very hopeful, again, we are the defending champion. We have two teams that that we try to evenly distribute, but we're trying to get the younger folks involved. So that's why we have what we call a Team B and it's comprised of mainly younger folks and they are the ones that are playing now. Team B is playing against NCC"
And this tournament is just a start. Both rural area reps say that the sport has a lot of potential.
Dolores Balderamos Garcia, Area Rep, Belize Rural Central
"I think it's a part of the culture and recently we were over at the University of Belize talking about the Indigenous Cultural Institute, intercultural exchanges."
"So I think this is a part of it. You know, we are very happy as you know, Lord's Bank has a team and we want to support and make sure that the children can come up in the cricket, learn about it and participate and enjoy.""If we get the, you know, the gears and if we get the the elders who know about the game to inculcate that knowledge into the children and the youngsters coming up, I think it can be really good because cricket is worldwide, but it's mainly Commonwealth countries, countries that have had ties to Britain. And I think we should encourage it. We really should encourage it all that we can"
Marconi Leal, Area Rep, Belize Rural North
"I just got into government two years ago, I was not a big fan of cricket. I was more into football and and softball and basketball, but I never played cricket when I was a young boy because I came from more the north side of Belize Rural North, but for the last two years, getting involved into cricket, I see that it will develop this cricket, this tournament right here with NCC being involved with bring a lot of experience and a lot of where teams will be able to learn a lot of the techniques and a lot of the rules."
"So cricket will develop. Last Sunday I was all there when they win it because the team came in a week earlier and they played a friendly match against or a national team and we beat them quite easily."
"I don't know if they pulled out just the the weaker guys. They didn't want to showcase their best bowlers or best batters. I don't know but we will see they're playing today. So one of the believes team is playing against them right now. So we will we will see what happens."
The tournament will last for four days and on Sunday the winner will be taking home the championship.
The tournament runs from Tournament from the 27th to the 30th April.
Countries participating are: Belize, Costa Rica, Mexico and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Panama and Bermuda were unable to attend this year's event.
