How desperate have you ever been to play cricket? To what stretch would you go?
Would you do what the Argentine cricketers did in 1859?
Argentina used to have a reasonable cricketing culture.
They started as early as in 1806/07. In 1926 they even beat Plum Warner's MCC.
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Would you do what the Argentine cricketers did in 1859?
Argentina used to have a reasonable cricketing culture.
They started as early as in 1806/07. In 1926 they even beat Plum Warner's MCC.
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If you take Guyana away, Argentina are easily the strongest South American side. They have always been.
But all that is for another thread.
Let us return to 1859, five years before the formation of the famous Buenos Aires Cricket Club.
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But all that is for another thread.
Let us return to 1859, five years before the formation of the famous Buenos Aires Cricket Club.
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It was also the year of the Battle of Cepeda.
Justo Jose de Urquiza had set up camp just outside Buenos Aires.
The San Jose de Flores Pact would be signed later that year.
At this point it was not easy for anyone to travel from Buenos Aires beyond de Urquiza's lines.
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Justo Jose de Urquiza had set up camp just outside Buenos Aires.
The San Jose de Flores Pact would be signed later that year.
At this point it was not easy for anyone to travel from Buenos Aires beyond de Urquiza's lines.
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But the local cricketers were getting desperate for a game.
Unfortunately, to reach their pitch (and ground), they had to go through or past an entire army.
Surely no self-respecting cricketer would allow anything as trivial as war to come in their way?
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Unfortunately, to reach their pitch (and ground), they had to go through or past an entire army.
Surely no self-respecting cricketer would allow anything as trivial as war to come in their way?
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So they did what any sensible cricketer would do. They chose representatives who went to Urquiza.
No known transcript of the conversation is available, but I suppose it went on these lines: Senores, can we cross your army and play some cricket as you people fight?
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No known transcript of the conversation is available, but I suppose it went on these lines: Senores, can we cross your army and play some cricket as you people fight?
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Whatever it was, it worked. They were allowed to travel to play cricket.
But that was not all.
When they reached the ground, they found a dead horse on the pitch.
But then, if crossing the lines during a war could not deter them, an static equine corpse stood no chance.
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But that was not all.
When they reached the ground, they found a dead horse on the pitch.
But then, if crossing the lines during a war could not deter them, an static equine corpse stood no chance.
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The game continued with the horse on the pitch.
The score and the outcome remain unknown, as are the team names, but somehow I suspect there were a lot of wide balls.
So, what were you saying? How desperate have you been?
The score and the outcome remain unknown, as are the team names, but somehow I suspect there were a lot of wide balls.
So, what were you saying? How desperate have you been?
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