A cricket coach from Exmouth is preparing to lead the Brazilian women’s cricket in a World Cup qualifying campaign against Argentina, USA and Canada.
Liam Cook, 32, was born and bred in Exmouth, played for the Town cricket and football teams, before embarking on a thrilling sporting journey with a country that now sees cricket as a life opportunity.
“I grew up in Exmouth, attended Exmouth Community College and studied at Exeter College,” said Liam. “I played cricket for Exmouth, made my first-team debut at the age of 16, and also played football for Exmouth Town and Exmouth Ammies.
“I now live in the Bexley area of London but my journey to become coach of the Brazilian women’s cricket team took a few twists.
“I worked for Devon cricket while studying at University, did some coaching at local clubs but then had to settle down with a proper job, which led to work with EDF Energy in Exeter.
“It wasn’t something I considered as a long-term career and I continued my cricket coaching at the same time. I then had an opportunity to move to London with EDF Energy.
“I decided to quit my job and take up cricket as a full-time coach. During the 2019 World Cup, there was a Brazilian street cricket team that came over for a tournament organised by the ICC.
“It was a tournament for traditionally non-cricketing nations to showcase their versions of cricket. I was contacted to say the Brazilian team were based in our area and they asked me to coach some one-to-one sessions with the captain, Roberta Moretti Avery.
“The sessions went well and Roberta wanted to train every day, which is how the relationship started with Cricket Brazil and I was in contact with their President Matthew Featherstone.
“Brazil was the first nation to have a fully-contracted women’s squad before any male players were contracted and I got a call from Matt asking me to go over to Sao Paulo for some coaching last January.
“The opportunity went very well, although I was on the last flight home before Covid struck. The role became more permanent over the summer and we worked hard on structuring cricket in Brazil.
“I returned to Brazil in September and stayed for three months in a magical city called Pocos de Caldas, which is quite isolated and we were able to train all week, with games on the weekend.
“It all stemmed from the World Cup and we are now preparing for the T20 World Cup qualifiers, with our first qualification in the USA in September, playing against USA, Canada and Argentina.
“The winners will then go through to the next phase in Dubai to compete against teams from Europe, Asia and Africa to see who will play in the full World Cup qualifiers.
“Even if we don’t qualify for the next phase, we will play in the South American Championships against teams from Chile, Peru, Argentina, Uruguay and Mexico.
“The women’s team does have a genuine chance of getting through the first set of qualifiers and there are a few players who would be around the women’s county level in the UK.
“There are also exciting youngsters coming through on the male side. They have projects ongoing in the favelas of Brazil, which have now been running for seven or eight years, so these kids started at a young age.
“It means that we have an extremely talented group of players coming through at the age of 16 but they are also very raw, mainly because they’ve not been coached, which is not necessarily a bad thing.
“It is not just a sport in Brazil, it is an opportunity for kids from the favelas to attend University and get an education, many of them from families that had never even left their home city. It is giving them an opportunity to travel South America, while playing sport.”