Readers of The Local Answer – both online and in print – will know that Rob Sharp is vice-president of the Uruguay Cricket Association.

The Gotherington cricketer has taken a keen interest in all things cricket in the South American country for the past seven years – his wife Alison was born in Montevideo – and since becoming vice-president of the UCA has been working alongside his colleagues at Uruguayan cricket to re-start the great game that is cricket in that part of the world.

It’s still early days, of course – and he’s looking for support – but progress is most definitely being made with the next target being to buy a Flicx pitch, which is a rollout, portable artificial cricket wicket.

“There is an exciting project underway to relaunch hardball cricket in Uruguay and as it stands it is unfunded,” explained Sharp.

“The 100 or so active players play on scrubland with a tapeball yet have progressed to reach a level where they are competing for the second year in the non-ICC sanctioned South American Championships in Columbia.

“The 15-man squad are funding all their travel and kit costs for the August tournament.”

While the players have dug deep so that they can pursue their cricketing ambitions in Columbia, Sharp is hoping that people will come forward and help him realise his ambition of buying a Flicx pitch and shipping it over to Uruguay.

“We have negotiated an excellent price for a Flicx pitch of £2,700 that will enable the UCA to switch the domestic cricket from tapeball to hardball cricket and start to promote the growth of the game with the aim of achieving associate ICC member status in due course,” said Sharp.

“The UCA have found an area 25 minutes outside Montevideo – Zonamerica – where they can play, and we hope to also hold games at the British School in Montevideo and the original Montevideo Cricket Club, which is now predominantly rugby.”

Sharp, a businessman in Cheltenham, is calling the Flicx pitch plan Project 27 – an easy to understand name because he is asking 27 donors “to input £100 each so we can purchase the pitch and get it shipped ASAP, certainly ready for the southern hemisphere spring”.

So far 11 donors have come forward – including Sharp himself – and he added: “At this stage I wanted to focus on a specific project that will have a tangible benefit.”

And this is just the start for Sharp, a dad-of-four who lives in Gotherington, who will be flying out with his family to play cricket in South America in December.

“We have games arranged in Argentina on 16th December to mark the 150th anniversary of the first cricket match between Argentina and Uruguay in 1868 which pre-dates the Ashes,” he said.

There are also matches planned in Montevideo a couple of days later and for anyone supporting Sharp there is a chance to play a game in a part of the world where they almost certainly would never have thought possible.

“There will be an opportunity to play in one of the games in Argentina on 16th December – there will be a 20/20 game with guests – and on 18th December in Montevideo, and supporters will always be welcomed on any trip to Uruguay,” said Sharp.

Sharp is also hoping to attract a corporate sponsor of the trophy or match between Argentina and Uruguay and says that “for a very modest outlay your name would be noted every year the match is played which is intended to be annually”.

Anyone interested in getting involved should email rob_sharp100@hotmail.com