There’s nothing like a match that’s running into its 9th hour, separated by only 25 runs with less than 5 overs remaining to put you on the edge of your seat, am I right? Unfamiliar with the sport I’m referring to? It’s cricket and as we learned it’s quite entertaining after you figure out the rules of play.
Since we started our trip Katie and I have experienced a bit of Irish luck when it comes to being in the right place at the right time. In this case we just happened to pick an excellent time to be traveling in New Zealand where the the 2015 Cricket World Cup was being hosted. Capitalizing on our good fortune we bought two tickets to the South Africa vs. Pakistan match. Between the two of us we had watched a combined 0 seconds of cricket. Due to our deficit in cricket knowledge we spent the first hour trying to figure out the rules of the play. For those who want a quick overview of the rules, check out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPXAzgwwo0A
I have to say that the “bowler” (aka the guy who throws ball at the batsman) brought back memories of middle school dodgeball games when the biggest kid in the class would tap into his primal instincts to identify the weakest in the flock and seek him out. After identifying which lesser being posed no future physical threat, the man child would use his freakish neanderthal-like strength to prove why he was at the apex of the middle school food chain. Running at full speed towards one of us mere mortals the man child would build up momentum and throw that red rubber ball of death at a speed which usually caused a sonic boom.
The rules of cricket allow for the bowler to build up momentum by running for about 30 feet before he starts his windup. Once he reaches a designated line on the field he would end his sprint by throwing the ball at 90+ mph towards the wicket, which is being defended by the batsman. The batsman’s job is to defend the wicket using his bat, not his body, to deflect the ball. It seems like the batsman’s job is to be more like a hockey goalie, except by blocking the ball from knocking over the wicket he’s potentially earning runs (i.e. points) for his team depending upon where he hits the ball and how the defenders catch/stop the ball after it’s hit.
All in all, we really found the match fun to watch. We originally intended to leave after the first 2-3 hours but ended up staying for the whole match. That might not seem like such a big deal but the match started at 2pm and didn’t end until 10:30 PM. Check out some of the game time photos we took.
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