Happy 200th Birthday Argentina - June 2010

I am writing this article on the Bicentennial of Argentina’s independence from Spain. There is a two day national holiday and an ongoing street party on the world’s biggest road, The Nueve de Julio. This euphoric feeling of nationalism has reignited the issue of sovereignty of The Islas Malvinas or as we know them, The Falkland Islands, especially since the discovery of oil in the surrounding British waters.  I prefer to keep a low profile today, preparing to travel for Bermuda, writing this article and letting the Argentines enjoy their 200^th birthday.  

Nueve de Julio

I had planned to write this article about the Argentine Under 19 Captain Alejo Tissera’s experiences playing cricket at the UK at Essex based club Woodford Wells. However, it seems entering the UK to play cricket in England is not so easy.

Alejo, the fast bowling all rounder, had been looking forward to his UK visit since Christmas.  That was until he landed in Heathrow and met UK immigration.  On discovering he had the wrong visa to play cricket he was immediately detained for ten hours and promptly sent back on the next available flight to the United States, where he has dual nationality. Alejo remained in the US with his father so he could reapply for the right visa in a second attempt to play for and enjoy the company of Woodford Wells. The new visa was unfortunately denied, so Alejo is stranded in the US.

Alejo Tissera in full flow

Argentine cricket visa and player eligibility issues did not end there, last month. Ryan Butta, the naturalised Argentine from Australia, who has been mentioned in earlier articles, sadly learned that  he didn't meet the eligibility required for The ICC Americas Championships in Bermuda and has thus had to withdraw from the Argentine squad. This however has given Alejo, who was on standby, a chance to play for Argentina in the upcoming tournament and he will travel directly from Boston to meet us in Bermuda. Let’s hope Bermuda will be more welcoming than the UK.

In Bermuda we will face, Canada, USA, Bermuda, Bahamas and The Cayman Islands. It is Argentina’s first competitive tournament since January 2009 in the ICC Division 3 Championships. We will be looking to improve on past performances and do especially well against The USA and The Cayman Islands who we will meet in the ICC Division Four in August in Italy.