Maasai warriors have taken cricket to their hearts since they were introduced to it five years ago.

Members of the Maasai team pose with a rhino. On top of the beautiful landscapes, animals and colorful costumes, Warriors is also the gripping story of a sporting underdog as the team leave home for the first time to take part in an international amateur competition in England. Before they went they'd never won a game, but then again they'd never had another team to play against.

The moment he saw a photograph of a warrior in tribal gear wielding a cricket bat on a dusty scrap of ground in the shadow of Mount Kenya, film-maker Barney Douglas was intrigued. The unlikely image inspired him to make Warriors, an eye-opening documentary about the Maasai cricket team, supported by England fast bowler Jimmy Anderson as executive producer.

The stunning scenery in the film is pure Out Of Africa, and as the players walk for up to two hours from neighboring villages to the practice pitch past giraffes, elephants, zebras and hyenas they look like extras in a David Attenborough special.

 'They took to the game because they felt it reflected their hunting techniques,' says Douglas, 'with the ball as the spear and the bat as a shield. There was also the foot movement, the crouching and the sudden turns of pace. One player told me he runs to escape charging elephants and that's good training for cricket.'

But there's substance to the film as well. Over here cricket may have a reputation for being stuffy and one of the last bastions of tradition, but among the Maasai it's become a vehicle for change. 

The film movingly shows how cricket has empowered the younger generation, helping to promote education and fight the serious mistreatment of women. 'Girls find it hard to get an education there because they're married off so young, before they reach their teens,' says Douglas.

 'So the fact cricket could potentially change a community was fascinating. I was attracted at first by the cricket and the colour but as I learnt more about the shocking inequality and exploitation of the girls, the film became more than just a fun story, it had emotional depth.'

Star of the show, as the young men dare speak out for change, is team captain Sonyanga. 'There are some traditions the elders believe are very important,' he says in perfect English. 'We've learnt that these traditions are very wrong but we never had a voice... until we found cricket.'

To tell the story, the film follows a classic journey. There's a Maasai saying that goes, 'The eye that leaves the village sees further,' and their eyes were certainly opened wide when they left Kenya to fly to England, go on the London Eye and walk on the hallowed turf at Lord's, the home of cricket.

A batsman in the Maasai Warriors cricket team runs during practice at a cricket grounds in Mombasa, South East Kenya on March 5, 2012. Their sporting passion was first ignited five years ago by South African cricket fan Aliya Bauer. 

She was researching baboons in the area, but missed sport so much she thought she'd try to introduce the game. With help from the charity Cricket Without Boundaries and the British Army it took off among the Maasai's young men. 

When they started their pitch was dangerously bumpy and rocky. But then the tribal elders donated a piece of land and the British Army, who were training nearby, sent diggers to flatten the site. 'There's still a bit of a slope but then Lord's has a slope too,' jokes Major Mark Baker, the officer in charge of 70 Gurkha Field Squadron.

So far so good, but as Barney Douglas says there is 'a darker side' to the story and to the patriarchal way of life here. 'We don't have to change the good culture,' says captain Sonyanga, 'we're just trying to eliminate the bad culture, seeing the women as inferior in society.'

To show their respect the young men in the team wear traditional dress, in contrast to the elders who sit around in crumpled Western-style jackets, shirts and trousers throughout the film. But cricket has given the young men a sense of status and the confidence to challenge their elders.

They have their work cut out for them though, explains Ngumba John Njuguna, the headmaster of the school at the village of Il Polei, where many of the players come from. 'Unfortunately most girls are circumcised at the age of eight or nine and then they're married off, so they don't go to school,' he says. 'Even the girls seem to accept it, they think it's the only way in life; the future is bleak if they don't change.' 

There are stories of young girls married in return for a few cows and of the abuse that follows. But times are changing: the number of girls in the school is rising, and they're starting to play cricket too. A 45 per cent share of profits from the film will help build a sports and education centre for boys and girls in the village.

Even the headmaster dares to smile now. 'I have total respect for the Maasai women, they're pillars of the home but they have no right to change their own lives because the men are on top. So if the young cricket warriors are going to be the next elders, there's hope.'

Source: Mail online