James Bryce
CRICKET fans from up and down the Costa del Sol will be flocking down to the Oval this month… the Cartama Oval that is!
They will be attending Andalucia’s first charity cricket festival from September 27 to 29.
Raising money for local cancer charity Cudeca, the three day festival also aims to raise the profile of cricket in southern Spain.
“The Cartama Oval is an incredible place,” explains Yorkshireman Tim Meal, 57, from Alora. “Few people realise we have a league playing almost every weekend here.
“There are players from eight nationalities ranging from aged 19 to 70, yet most people have no idea about us.”
The games are free to watch and there will be a raffle with many prizes.
Contact Tim (662 233 302) for more information.
Cricket started on Costa Del Sol a few years before Cartama Oval was created. Malaga Cricket Association was founded in 1987 and included 4 teams playing through the year. Teams from UK visited for a week of cricket playing CDS teams. Matches were played at Benalmadena Sports Ground on the football pitch. Also on El Tomillar all weather surface and on grass at Hotel in Torremolinos. We also had Spring-Back stumps on clay football pitches in Velez Malaga. More grass was found near Sotogrande, but this was lost when the Motorway went through. Gibraltar was involved and cricket played on their 3 grounds at the time. There was a regular November Cricket Festival – later changed to October when more UK teams were entertained including The Cricket Society.Enquiries about early years of cricket are welcome.
Im sorry but the first time Cricket played in Spain it was in Huelva capital xIx century by the english people who worked in Minas de Rio Tinto.Thanks.