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By Amlan Chakraborty
(Reuters) - Cricket is slowly finding its feet in Mexico and driving the growth of the game is an award-winning project involving prisoners across the Latin American country.
The governing International Cricket Council announced its development awards on Wednesday recognising "groundbreaking initiatives and outstanding performances" by its associate members.
The Mexico Cricket Association (MCA) bagged the ICC Development Initiative of the Year award for two projects, including its cricket-in-prison programme.
"It is first and foremost a truly meaningful recognition at the highest level," MCA chairman Ben Owen said.
"... it highlights the power of cricket as a force for social change as well as raising our profile enormously which should open even more doors in the future."
The MCA partnered with Mexico's sports secretariat to launch the project last year and both are encouraged by the response.
Hundreds of inmates play modified versions of the game weekly and MCA is planning a national prison competition later this year featuring teams from each of the 32 states, according to the Mexican board.
"One prisoner shared that she likes to play cricket because it serves as therapy for her," MCA secretary Craig White said.
"Another inmate said that she too wants to keep playing cricket after being released and would like to teach the sport to other women."
While it helped the inmates to adapt to their surroundings, the secretariat believed it taught them a much-needed lesson.
"What (the secretariat) likes about cricket and why they chose it for inclusion in prisons is how the decision of the umpire is always accepted and they believe this concept can help prisoners to respect rules," added White.
Oman won the women's cricket initiative award, while the Netherlands (men) and the United Arab Emirates (women) were honoured for their team performance last year.
(Reporting by Amlan Chakraborty in New Delhi; editing by Christian Radnedge)
