Someone once said that the English were a godless race so they invented cricket to give themselves some idea of what eternity was all about.
Well, times have changed a little from the days when the game was played solely in white uniforms and cartoonists used to draw cobwebs between the players and the ground.
Test mateches (up to 5 days long) are still played in whites but the shorter forms of the game are in coloured uniforms.
We went to the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground) yesterday for a one day match.
Both sides face 300 balls, highest score wins.
It was a fascinating day. It was my first visit to the MCG since it had been renovated - a circular, four-tier stadium that holds just short of 100,000 people. The attendance yesterday was just over 78,000. There is very much a colesseum feel to the place.
I am certain that the Australians would not like to consider themselves Christians in this modern day colesseum but the English lions were sorely mauled by the end of it all.
Sadly the experience was marred, for me, by too many drunks and too many Mexican waves. We left when the result was without much doubt but in time to beat the mob to the trams.
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i have no idea how a cricket match is played. but if it's slower than baseball, it's not something i would seek as entertainment. but as religion, it might come close to meditation. :)
ReplyDeleteThe one day stuff is quite fast moving and can be quite enthralling. There is a version called 20-20 where each side faces 120 balls and tends to be a slog-fest, fast and furious.
ReplyDeleteThe test matches have appeal, but at a different level, sort of like chess.
Found you!
ReplyDeleteI thought they banned the Mexican Wave at the MCG....too many foreign objects being thrown :(