Cricket in Iraq
Cricket has an extremely minimal presence in Iraq, with the majority of national focus on football, with basketball, swimming, weightlifting, bodybuilding, taekwondo, boxing, kickboxing, and tennis also followed. With the ongoing War in Iraq, pursuing sports can be dangerous. Iraq is not a member of the International Cricket Council, and what cricket is found has been introduced to schools largely through the British Armed Forces, or played between the militaries of the various Commonwealth forces stationed there - Australian, British and New Zealand troops.[1]
In 2007 a Wisden writer, Andrew Banks, toured schools in Iraq with a detachment of the Royal Air Force, handing out cricket equipment and explaining the laws of cricket to teachers. He recorded that "after some simple explanation of the basic rules of cricket (through an interpreter) and a quick demonstration by members of the RAF, the Iraqi children joyfully hit the ball around the playground. I duly handed over the set to the games mistress and she in turn professed to be keen to allow her charges to play on a regular basis."[2]
Inter-force cricket matches between various units of the British Army have taken place in the country, and in September 2007 a British Army team were defeated by a team from the Australian military near Basra. The match raised 14,000 US Dollars for charities.[1]
References
- Notes
- ^ a b "Australia claim the Basra Ashes". ESPNcricinfo. September 17, 2007. Retrieved 4 June 2014.
- ^ Munroe, Tony (2007). "Cricket round the world". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 4 June 2014.
- Sources