Interfaith cricket in Birmingham

Rome cricket team

A visiting cricket team from the Vatican took on an Anglican side as well as a Muslim team in a day of play at Edgbaston. The Vatican team - the St Peter's X1 - made up largely of players from south-east Asia studying at seminaries in Rome, first visited the UK in 2014. The Archbishop of Canterbury's X1 played in Rome last year.

Archbishop Bernard Longley and a leading Anglican Archbishop, David Moxon, greeted the Anglican and Vatican teams on the pitch before their game began. Archbishop Longley diplomatically said he would be praying for both sides!

Archbishop Moxon is the Archbishop of Canterbury's representative to the Holy See and Director of the Anglican Centre in Rome. He and Archbishop Longley are co chairs of the Anglican Roman Catholic International Commission for ecumenical dialogue.

The Muslim team, the Mount, traveled down from Yorkshire for the event, having also played in Rome last year.

An organiser said: "the purpose of the 'Unity through Cricket' matches is to enjoy the good relations that already exist between people of different faiths and also to demonstrate how divisions between faiths can be overcome most effectively by playing together."

The all important result: the Anglicans beat the Vatican and the Vatican beat the Mount!