Article by Paulo Vitor Campos

On Wednesday (13), a competition involving 12 projects from the city took place in the cricket field of the south zone. About 150 students, all coordinated by Professor Matt Featherstone, participated in the event that brought together the teams of Bem Viver, Sesi A, PMJ João Monteiro, Casa do Menor, PMJ São Sebastião, Casa do Caminho, Galpão das Artes A, Galpão das Artes B, Caldense, Happy Child, Casa do Caminho and Santa Maria. There was also a presentation by AADV students.

  • “We had a wonderful afternoon and our cricket has been a source of great happiness due to the commitment of everyone involved, both teachers and students of the projects. It was a great success and the boys were very motivated during the disputes,” said Featherstone .
  • The projects are coordinated by professors Matt Featherstone, Alexandre Felippe, Roberta Avery and Richard Avery, in addition to Renata and Xipinho.

The competition

  • The championship was divided into three groups and the champions went to Caldense, in group A, PMJ João Monteiro, in group B and Galpão das Artes, in group C. The games took place simultaneously in six fields and it was the second one played in south zone field. “We divided the championships into several stages and next week we should have more games. These events mark the end of the semester and the balance is very positive and these championships serve as motivation since it serves to bring together all the nuclei and ends up becoming a great one. fraternization, “said Matt Featherstone.

Cricket in Poços
Started in 2011, through Englishman Matthew Featherstone, coach and captain of the Brazilian male team and official representative of cricket in the Americas, the Cricket Project Poços de Caldas was born with the aim of popularizing the sport, which is the second most practiced in the world. With great acceptance from entities and the population, the program contributes to the local community, offering sports development, recreation and discovering new sports talents. The sports project currently serves students from 6 years of age, who attend classes free of charge in centers such as the Association for the Assistance of the Visually Impaired (AADV), Casa do Menor, Municipal School, Caldense Athletic Association, Bem Viver Project, Municipal Park , between others

  • “We have many partners that make our cricket stronger every day. The ICC Mundial is a great partner, we also have the Municipal Electricity Department, Caixa Econômica Federal, City Hall and Caldense anyway, without them the project would not have grown so much”

Cricket
The easiest way for the Brazilian to understand cricket is through the resemblance to the bat or betes, which looks like a simplified form of the English game. The principle is the same: the pitcher has to knock down the “little house”, the wicket, and the hitter has to hit the ball and run to the other wicket to score points, or runs. But, while the bat is played in pairs, a cricket team is made up of 11 players: two batters, the batsmen, and eleven fielders on the field trying to prevent the team of the time (the one batting) from completing the runs and trying to eliminate the hitters. In addition to knocking down the box, the hitter can be eliminated if the ball is caught in the air; or if the wicket is “broken” before the batters reach it when trying to score the runs. The next team has to score as many runs as possible, while the other team tries to eliminate ten hitters. Once all these hitters are eliminated, the teams change positions, starting to hit what they were shooting and to throw what they were hitting. The winner is the team with the most runs. The ball used to play is hard, made of cork and leather, slightly larger than a tennis ball. Two little houses are 20 meters from each other and the entire field measures practically the same as two football fields. When the hitter manages to hit the ball out of bounds, he scores four runs. If the ball does not hit the ground, he scores six runs. Each pitcher throws the ball six times, one over, and then another pitcher shoots from the other box.