Boys Against Men - Argentina Under 19s Tour

Argentina's road to the Under 19 World Cup started and ended at the Americas Division 1 competition in Florida. But with an average age of 15 years and four months, our aim was to enjoy, learn, compete - and get back in one piece.

Tincho Perelta - getting his hair done

The team certainly enjoyed themselves. Debutants received initiation haircuts. These comprised the 'usual' Mohicans and skinheads. Sporting new hairstyles, the team may have been the smallest in the tournament but they were also the scariest looking.

Nacho Pizzo going for a grade one

The players also learned a lot. And on some pretty basic levels. For instance, when one bowler appealed to the umpire, one of the 14-year-olds screamed 'Sabadat' instead of the tried-and-tested 'Howzat',
such was his lack of cricketing knowledge.

Mohican - 13 year old Feli Nogues

Another player learned the fundamental difference between Astroturf and grass. After each ball the player in question would prod the surface with his bat. When quizzed on why he was doing this he replied that he had seen England's Jonathan Trott doing the same. It was explained to him that 'gardening' was not necessary when tending a surface that wasn't living.......

The team did compete. We beat the Bahamas and came close to doing the same against the Cayman Islands. However, against teams such as the USA, Canada and Bermuda, the gap was just too big.

Argentina take another wicket on their way
 to victory against the Bahamas

The games were played at three different venues, one of which was the USA National Cricket Stadium with a capacity of 12,000. It is an amazing experience to play in such a ground, but it becomes even bigger when players from Argentina have never as much seen a cricket ground before.

The 12,000 capacity national
 cricket stadium in Florida

And we did manage to get back in on piece. Just. The biggest scare came on the last day after a shopping trip to Saw Grass, the biggest shopping mall in the world.One player became detached from the main party and was finally found wandering around aimlessly just three hours before our plane left.

The most pleasing thing from a development point a view is that Lautaro Musiani and Agustin Husain, who played in the U19s team, have now been selected for the full national squad to compete in The ICC Americas T20 tournament later this year.

A More Testing Time

Cricket commitments during exam time generally mean one or the other will suffer. I appreciate this as well as anyone, having sneaked out of study periods during my A Levels to face bowling machines.


I am organising training schedules in preparation for the Americas U19s division one competition, taking place in Florida. As a reader of this blog, it will come as no surprise that things are again different in Argentina.

Celebrations start after Argentina U19s win
 the Americas Division 2 in 2010

I was delighted to learn that school had finished well in advance of the competition. I revived a few enthusiastic emails from players stating that they were available to train 'any time'. Great, I thought. time enough to up-skill for the upcoming tournament, which is, in effect, the first round of qualifying for the Under 19s World Cup. I replied, but silence fell across the internet, until a week later when the very same players contacted me to say they were now unable to train because they still had exams to complete. It seems the school calender only finishes when you pass your exams; or rather if you pass your exams.


Bugger. I thought. But not to worry. Being the caring, holistic coach I am, I expressed the importance of school work - at least until the exams are over.


Three weeks passed. Another phone call from the players in question. Exams are over and they are finally ready to fully commit all their energy, effort and concentration to their cricket. Fantastic, I think. Less time than I would have liked, but time enough to work on improving the basics and have some fun.


One week later the phone rings again. The players in question will not only not be able to train in advance of the tour, they will now not be able to come on the trip at all. It turns out the players had not quite made the required mark for the second time and must retake the exams but this time the re-retakes coincide with the tour dates.


As bad as it is for the team, it's now even more dire for the players in question. This is the last chance saloon. To fail a third time would mean repeating the year. And the irony of it all? These players are the oldest, most experienced and best in the squad. This means that the Argentina Under 19s squad are heading stateside with an average age of 15.4 which must be the youngest under age party in cricket history.


Bring it on.........