An Interview With Argentina Captain Esteban MacDermott

Argentina is perhaps cricket’s most mysterious outpost. This is a country that speaks Spanish but has a slight majority of citizens with Italian heritage. Famous for it’s barbecued meats, tango, passionate people, the Avenida 9 de Julio, soccer, suburbs named after generals and wonderful architecture.

It is said that Argentines have their eyes pointed at Europe and their feet planted firmly in South America. Certainly Buenos Aires is a city with the flavour of the very best Europe has to offer. Having said that, Argentines are proudly South American with a culture and heritage that is individual and ever evolving.

Surprisingly, Argentina has an estimated 100,000 people with British ancestry, many of whom arrived in the 19th century in search of a better way of life or work opportunities. Four Argentine Presidents, Ignacio Alvarez Thomas, Arturo Rawson, Edelmiro Julian Farrell and Roberto Levingston, were apparently of British or Irish descent. Until quite recently Buenos Aires housed the only Harrods department store apart from the famous London icon. Old British style red phone boxes, pubs and grandiose houses still exist to this day. As does the English language Buenos Aires Herald newspaper and there are literally hundreds of streets named after Anglo-Argentine men and women.

Argentina has mastered Britain’s most quintessential sports.

Soccer, rugby union, tennis, polo and field hockey are part of the culture yet cricket has remained on the fringes, surviving for sure but never capturing the imagination of the public quite like the other sports. Historians, particularly those who view everything old with an unhealthy admiration may point to the 1900’s and 1930’s as Argentine cricket’s best period but that would be underscoring the current squad which is now ranked 22nd in the world and within touching distance of a World Cricket League Division 1 appearance.

So things are looking up for cricket in Argentina. It seemed further investigation was required into this elusive cricketing land, which was, until the recent acceptance of Brazil and Chile into the ICC fraternity, the lone purveyor of the sport in the region. What better way to find out more about Argentine cricket than to sit down and discuss the game over a hot gourd of mate tea with national captain and development manager Esteban MacDermott. Well actually, the interview was conducted by e-mail but no one needs to know that do they?

Stinga: How did you get involved in cricket?

Esteban: My PE teacher at school invited me when I was around ten years old. He is a former national team player. At that age you never say no. I got hooked with the game and have never stopped playing since then.

Stinga: Could you explain to those of us outside Argentina, the reason why so many Argentine players have British surnames. Are they recent arrivals to Argentina or Anglo-Argentines with a long family history in your country?

Esteban: The reason why there are so many players with British surnames is because cricket is played in clubs founded by the English in the 19th century. Those clubs wouldn’t allow local people to join the clubs until the middle of the last century. But 90% of the cricket community in Argentina is born and raised in that country.

Stinga: So Castellano (Spanish) is spoken on the field and amongst the players?

Esteban: Definitely!

Stinga: A few sledges in Spanish as well I presume? Jeje!

Esteban: Yes…..a bit of that too…..jaja

Stinga: Argentina performed brilliantly at The World Cricket League Division 3 in Darwin last year. What were the expectations of the team before the tournament?

Esteban: We were aiming to win two games in the first round and secure our spot in Division 3. Coming in as the last seeded team, we thought that goal would be hard enough but then once we achieved it we adapted and set ourselves the target of earning promotion to Division 2 and so we did.

Stinga: How did the pitches and conditions in Australia differ to the ones you are used to at home?

Esteban: Turf wickets in Argentina are low and slow. We play a big part of our season on artificial wickets too. But they do seam around and also did in Darwin and we made the most of that aspect with our bowling.

Stinga: From there the next challenge was the Division 2 tournament in Windhoek. Obviously the opposition was tougher. Were the players content with the results considering the high quality of the opponents or did they feel as though they had underachieved?

Esteban: Well, once you get used to winning it is hard to be content walking out of a tournament having won no games. It’s fair to say we played much more experienced opponents in very different conditions to where we come from but still, we think we didn’t play to our potential. Although we came close in a couple of matches we all think we could have done better.

Stinga: In truth, Argentina was competing against four countries with development programs involving more than 10,000 people. Surely Argentina must increase it’s playing numbers if it is to compete successfully at this level or beyond in the future?

Esteban: You got that one right. We need to enlarge the base and get as many players as possible to pick from. That would generate a healthy competition with players striving hard to make the team and naturally raising their standards.

Stinga: How will you achieve this. Are there plans to get more juniors involved in cricket?

Esteban: Of course there is! We have been working hard over the last couple of years to take cricket to more children around Buenos Aires and other provinces too. But this is a long term plan. Results won’t show immediately.

Stinga: It has been suggested that cricket in Argentina is brilliantly run, has good facilities and a professional administration but is unwilling to promote the game to the wider community including those not attending private schools and colleges. Is this a fair perception?

Esteban: I wouldn’t say that. It’s a very complex thing. We are definitely trying to take cricket to the wider community but this can’t be done overnight. We must create a second group of clubs together that can compete against each other and then bring them together with those that have been playing cricket traditionally.

Stinga: Does the ACA have a plan to include schools from the poorer villas?

Esteban: Yes. We are looking to develop a relationship with the Ministry of Sport to provide those areas with cricket as an option to get the boys doing sport and preventing them from falling into unhealthy habits.

Stinga: At the moment there are five main domestic clubs (Lomas, San Albano, Hurlingham, Belgrano and St George’s) plus Rosario who play in the development cup. Not all of Buenos Aires is serviced by a cricket club. Are there plans to create a couple more clubs in the future?

Esteban: Again yes. But as I said, we need to bring in not one or two, but four or five so they can compete amongst themselves until they have the standard to join the previous five you mentioned.

Stinga: Perhaps a club could be established in the Tortuguitas area with Bedes Grammar and St George’s North acting as instigating schools . This club could service potential players in the North-Western suburbs of Buenos Aires stretching out to areas like Rosa. Perhaps, also, a club needs to be set up in the South-Western villas of Merlo, Raphael Castillo and Ituzaingo. This would certainly help promote the sport in an untapped area of Buenos Aires?

Esteban: Sounds like a good idea. But it’s not only a matter of wanting this to happen but also being prepared logistically from the ACA to assist with everything they need to develop. The last thing we want to do is dive into a very optimistic plan and find ourselves unable to assist them correctly and having to then take steps back. We would rather do it slowly but properly.

Stinga: In recent times, countries such as Canada, Malaysia, Holland, United Arab Emirates and Morocco, to mention a few, have successfully hosted ODI’s between full members. Would a match between, say, England and India in Buenos Aires create interest?

Esteban: It is something we’ve thought of. But to be honest i don’t think the ordinary citizen would be that interested.

Stinga: How aware of cricket are the Argentine public now days?

Esteban: Not very aware unfortunately. We still lack cricket on TV and that is a major issue. We are getting some coverage in the newspapers every now and then but there’s still a long way to go.

Stinga: Tell us a little bit about your home club Lomas and if you can, describe the setting for the ground?

Esteban: Lomas is one of the most traditional clubs in Argentina. They were founders of the rugby union, cricket and football back in the 1800’s. Is the first football and rugby champion in the country and is 115 years old. The cricket ground has moved from where it was traditionally in 2001 when they laid the artificial hockey pitch (Lomas is the leader in women’s hockey in Argentina) so now we play at the club’s second facility, sharing the place with rugby.

Stinga: Tell us about your marathon innings of 17 not out from 82 balls against Namibia during the world Cricket League Division 2 tournament?

Esteban: Well, I went in there after we had lost three of our main batsmen in a rather short space of time and we had the order from our coach to bat through the innings and utilise the 50 overs against quality opposition. So I went in there and tried to consolidate a partnership with Matias (Paterlini), who was at the other end in great form. Then it got a bit personal with some of their (Namibia’s) players so I decided I wasn’t going to get out and would make them field the 50 overs. They weren’t very happy despite their win.

Stinga: It must have been wonderful watching Matias Paterlini scoring Argentina’s first ever List A century from the non-strikers end?

Esteban: It was a real pleasure. He was in total control and had been waiting for a tournament like he had in Namibia for a long time. He works really hard and has enormous talent. It was great to be the one there with him when he achieved his well deserved century.

Stinga: Now what about the interview on the Manana_Veremos television program in Buenos Aires. I assume this is a morning magazine style entertainment show. It seemed like good fun as well as a good promotion for the sport?

Esteban: Yes it was. That is the public channel, so it goes to every corner in the country. We had a good time and it also served the purpose of promoting the game.

Stinga: You let the host off easily bowling under arm? jeje!

Esteban: Well, it is his show. We had to be nice to him….jeje

Stinga: What have been your favourite moments playing for Argentina?

Esteban: Well, definitely Darwin will be hard to beat. The semi final against Cayman Islands to whom we had always lost was a special moment. To mention one more I could pick beating the MCC (With Mike Gatting and Andy flower) in 2006. Argentina hadn’t beaten the MCC since 1910.

Stinga: Finally, what are your hopes for Argentina cricket in the next 10 years?

Esteban: We hope we can continue to perform in the international arena and develop the game locally so it becomes a recognised sport at home.

MacDermott has been an outstanding off spin bowler and handy lower order batsman for Argentina.  His international career record against other ICC members is as follows.

Matches 25

Innings 13

No’s 4

Runs 109

High Score 43*

Batting Average 12.11

Wickets 36

Best Bowling 5-19

Bowling Average 19.22