2014-07-11 17:06:00

Pakistani governor gives gift to St Peter's Cricket Club


(Vatican Radio) The Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Culture has thanked Dr Ishrat ul Ebad Khan, governor of Sindh province in Pakistan, for his support for the Vatican Cricket Club which will travel on its first tour to England. During a ceremony on July 8th, the governor presented a cheque and six test-quality made-in-Pakistan cricket bats, saying it was “a gift for our friends in the Vatican as a token of friendship.” 

Officially the club is St. Peter’s Cricket Club but it's popularly called the Vatican XI. The team uniforms are in the papal colours of white and gold with the crossed-key emblem of the Vatican. The team is sponsored by the Pontifical Council for Culture which includes a department for sporting activities.

The team is an international group of Catholic priests and seminarians in Rome and is made up of eight Indians, two Sri Lankans and one each from Pakistan, England and Ireland. The Pakistani is Aamir Bhatti from Karachi who has been preparing in Rome for three years to become a Catholic priest and has been selected as the team’s wicket-keeper.

The Vatican team will travel from Rome to England in September and play against the Archbishop of Canterbury’s XI, the Royal Household at Windsor Castle, and a number of other teams.  Proceeds from the matches will go to the Global Freedom Network, the joint Anglican-Roman Catholic-Muslim anti-trafficking charity








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