Cricket Chile

Cricket is recorded as having first been played in Chile between the officers and men of two British Royal Navy vessels in the coastal city of Valparaíso in 1829. The country's oldest club, Valparaíso Cricket Club was founded in 1860 and regular fixtures took place between Valparaíso, Concepción and the Prince of Wales Country Club throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, before the exodus of British expatriates in the post-war years led to the game's steady decline.

The game's heyday came in the 1920s when 'Plum' Warner captained a touring side against a Valparaíso XI, and future England captain Freddie Brown started out his cricketing career at St. Peter's School in Viña del Mar. Chile joined the ICC in 2002 and launched its ambitious development programme to take the game to the local population.

The first international fixture between Chile and Argentina was played in 1893 when it reportedly took the Argentine side three and a half days to reach Santiago, crossing the Andes by mule. In 1995 Chile played in the first South American Championships (SAC) held in Buenos Aires finishing second to the hosts. Chile has participated in every SAC since the tournament began.

In 2006, Chile played in its first ICC tournament, the ICC Americas Championship Division 3 held in Suriname, where it finished third to the hosts and the Turks and Caicos Islands. Chile continues to compete in the Men’s, Women’s, Under 17 and Under 13 South American Championship as well as hosting touring sides from around the world.

Chile has been working to develop cricket in the regions with junior teams playing some form of cricket in five of Chile’s fifteen regions. In 2014, the Chilean Institute of Sport funded the first under 16 regional championships which saw the eighth region (Region Bío-Bío) defeat the Metropolitan (Santiago) Regional team in T20 format.