Vatican’s cricketers aim to bowl over their hosts on British tour
by Joseph Tulloch, The Times:
The papal side set out to win friends as they toured Britain to spread a message of Christian unity.
As they waited patiently outside St James’s Palace in their clerical collars and bright yellow blazers, the group of Catholic priests and seminarians attracted a crowd of curious passers-by.
They had not arrived as part of a missionary attempt to bring Catholicism back to the palace. Instead they were members of the Vatican cricket team, preparing to represent the papal city-state in a match against the King’s XI at Windsor Castle.
“Wherever we go, we always wear the clerical shirts,” the team’s captain, Father Joseph Ettolil, said, adding that his players had been recognised on the Tube. “It’s not because we are famous cricketers, but because the Vatican cricket team is famous.”
The team were in the middle of a week-long tour of the UK, which had already seen them face the England over-60s team and St Mary’s University, Twickenham. Now, they were visiting the Chapel Royal as part of the preparations for the fixture against the monarch’s side.
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