Cricketers fight for foothold in baseball-mad Cuba

"It's a game that forces you to think, to organize, to do things deliberately. At the same time there's respect and unity among the players," said Aguiar, a 35-year-old unemployed maintenance worker. "There's not a single cricket pitch in Cuba, so we play where they let us, on a soccer field, a baseball field, a running track."
   
Cuba has organized cricket in six of its 16 provinces, with 1,150 registered players throughout the country of 11 million, said Barbara Delarra, an official with Cuba's National Sports Institute.
   
"Youngsters like it because it's similar to baseball, with pitching, batting and fielding. It's a new sport and appealing to youngsters frustrated with baseball," she said.