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    HK domestic helpers break down barriers with all-Filipino cricket team

    HK helpers incorporate themselves in the fabric of their adopted city by becoming good in a sport previously alien to them
    Jan 5, 2021

    By Gabby Alvarado

    "Cricket, yung may sound sa gabi. Kuliglig."

    That was Jennifer Alumbro's initial thought when she was invited to try the game of cricket.

    Three years later, Alumbro has become proficient with both bat and ball as a stalwart of the all-Filipino SCC Divas team making waves in Hong Kong. Her eye-catching play has earned the 30-year-old domestic helper a call-up to the ground-breaking Women's Premier League. That's a strictly-invitation three-game series involving 30 of Hong Kong's best women cricketers.

    "Masaya siya, parang ayaw mo na siyang bitawan. Saka hindi siya common sa atin," Alumbro says of the sport.

    Their background in softball and baseball aided Alumbro, Divas founder Josie Treyes and several other teammates in their transition to cricket. Their ability to whack the ball consistently in Sunday baseball games here was their ticket to a sport that nations from the former British Commonwealth are so passionate about.


    But athleticism and eagerness for a new hobby can only take them so far. Learning cricket takes loads of hard work and a great deal of physical pain, the girls soon learned.

    Though there are similarities to softball and baseball, cricket - with its numerous rules and unique demands on every player on the field - is more complicated. Take the shape of the playing area, for example. It's so unlike the baseball diamond that the Filipinas grew up in. Bases and home plate are nowhere to be found. Instead, at the center of the field lay a rectangular pitch with wickets at both ends where batswomen hustle back and forth to score runs.

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    The Divas admit the biggest adjustment came in fielding, which requires no small amount of courage. For they need to charge at a hard-hit ball with bare hands - and it doesn't help that a cricket ball is harder and heavier than a baseball. Cricket allows for gloves only in batting and wicketkeeping, the equivalent of a catcher in softball and baseball.

    "Mano-mano sa pagsalo, uuwi ka talagang may pasa ang kamay," says Lolita Olagiuer, a slow bowler from Bulacan.


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    Wicketkeeper Catherine Liza Bagaoisan remembers being the victim of a direct hit, dropping on the seat of her pants as a ball bowled by a teammate struck her in the abdomen - and that was only during practice. "Buti na lang malaki ang bilbil ko," the Ilocana recalls, laughing.

    Alongside beauty contests that are a staple among the Filipino community here, volleyball and basketball are the favorite pastimes of domestic helpers. Their tournaments though are usually exclusive to Filipinas.

    Then there are the Divas and the Filipino Dynamos dragon boat team, led by mountaineer Liza Avelino, who regularly compete against Hong Kong teams with far more financial resources, greater playing experience and coaching.

    Breaking barriers in these Hong Kong pursuits shows how domestic helpers are slowly incorporating themselves in the fabric of their adopted city in roles that have nothing to do with their job description.


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    On the cricket ground, the Divas get respect as competitors, free from the employee-employer relationship that defines them.

    Negros-born Treyes paved the way for Hong Kong-based Filipinas in cricket in 2015, when she made the Hong Kong Cricket Club team while playing community baseball. Two years later, she realized her dream of an all-Filipino cricket team with the help of umpire Animesh Kulkarni, the Divas' manager, and a British friend.

    "Committed talaga ang players, devoted sa team," says Treyes. "Kasi di kami nagre-represent sa ano lang na league, kasali kami sa buong Hong Kong na league."

    Treyes, 52, was a Palarong Pambansa softball standout from UNO-R who once turned down an invitation to join the Marikina-based Philippine Blu Girls because she was too young and had never been away from home.


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    With the Divas, she is the big sister and captain and a lot, lot more.

    More than any other sport, cricket places great responsibility on the captain. That's because she decides on the bowling and fielding set-up so the team can take wickets. Adjustments are made during the course of a game depending on the batswoman they're bowling to and the kind of innings she's having.

    So Treyes had to learn The Laws of Cricket, the code crafted by the venerable Marylebone Cricket Club, some of whose earliest rules date back to 1744. "After five years, di ko pa memorize lahat," Treyes admits.

    With Kulkarni's help, the Divas were fortunate to get a regular coach in Sher Lama before the start of the current campaign. But when they were just starting, a steady diet of YouTube videos helped the Divas with batting and bowling techniques.

    They pored over these videos with the same zealousness of fellow Filipinas glued to their favorite Korean telenovelas. Soon many of them became admirers of the likes of Virat Kohli, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Smriti Mandhana, Lauren Smith and Alyssa Healy.

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    Overwhelmed as they are sometimes with household work, the Divas still manage to squeeze in time for individual training - all it takes is a little imagination.

    Alumbro, for example, carries a tennis ball around for practicing her straight-arm delivery. And not unlike golf enthusiasts practicing their swings with an imaginary club, Alumbro polishes her batting stroke through simulation during the course of her work.

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    Her employer's pet dog has become a best friend indeed for Olaguier, as far as cricket is concerned. Whenever the 38-year-old takes the dog out for a walk, they would play fetch. Olaguier would toss a ball for the dog to retrieve in the same way she would bowl to a batswoman. Two to three hours of this activity helps her arm, Olaguier says.

    From modest beginnings, the Divas were promoted to the second division after twice winning in the development leagues, led by all-rounder Alumbro who opens the batting and takes the new ball in attack.


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    The Filipinas have now grown into three teams. Apart from the Divas, they also have two teams competing in the lower tiers. All three teams were doing well until the season was shut down by Covid-19.

    Not bad for what started as a ragtag squad with scant coaching until now.

    Cricket has provided the Divas with something to look forward to at the end of a tiring work week.

    For Alumbro, becoming a two-time MVP of the development leagues is a highlight until her selection for the Women's Premier League, where she has learned more about the game through interaction with other players and specialized coaching.

    Cricket can also provide amusing experiences for some.

    Bagaoisan, 41, remembers the first time she was sent in to bat in a tournament.

    "First na salang ko, yung bowler nila na natapat sa akin dati kong tine-train na maging pitcher sa baseball. British," she says.

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    "Sport nya talaga cricket pero nag-try ng baseball. Bowler talaga sya. Ang lakas ng bola niya, hindi ko alam kung paano ko sasanggain o papaluin. Takot na takot ako, nanginginig ako."

    With a big laugh, Bagaoisan reveals the result of that encounter: she didn't last one over.

    "Na-strikeout po ako, dalawang bola lang po. Hahahaha.

    "Sabi nya sa akin, 'I'm sorry'. Sabi ko sa kanya, 'No it's okay, that's part of the game'. Tawa siya nang tawa sa akin. 'I'm really sorry,' sabi nya."

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      Laughing over their misadventures, the bruising in their hands from fielding and wicketkeeping worn proudly like badges of honor, the Divas have been navigating their way through a sport that few people back home have heard of much less care about.

      They admit they still have much to learn, especially when facing experienced fast bowlers and spinners -- or when trying to dismiss batswomen who can hurt a team by hitting boundaries and sixes.

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      Over the short term, the Divas hope to be more competitive in Hong Kong leagues. A Sixes tournament among all-Filipino teams at Kowloon Cricket Club is also being planned. They even have the 2022 Asia Cup in China in their sights.

      Inspired by the Divas' rise, Treyes and Alumbro are thinking of bringing the game to their communities once their tour of duty here is over.

      Hopefully they won't have a hard time convincing people that cricket is a sport, not the insect so common in the countryside that chirps loudly at night.

      Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph

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