As I mentioned in a previous post, one of the activities that I really wanted to experience in South Africa was attending a cricket or rugby game here. I always enjoy watching sports and think they are a great way to take in the culture of another country.
Because the Rotarians here have been so kind in making our visit a memorable experience, they went out of their way to honor my request to see a sporting event here.
I attended the game with Mike, a Rotarian from the Wynberg Rotary Club, and his two children, Carrie and Rob, who were thrilled to teach this foreigner about cricket!
The game was between the Bangalore Royal Challengers and the Deccan Chargers in the Indian Premiere League (IPL), which is a quicker and flashier version of the original 5-Day cricket games.
In the past, I always thought cricket seemed a little slow and goofy because of the running back and forth and the wickets and stuff. However, after a few lessons on the purpose of the game, I found myself very interested in it. I won't try to explain it here because a) it would take up way too much room and b) I still don't know it super well. After a while, I found myself cheering at the 6's and wickets without being prompted to do so.
Cricket draws comparisons to my favorite sport of baseball and one of the things I enjoyed was the strategy and thinking that seems to go into cricket, similar to baseball. Mike is a big cricket fan and I really enjoyed hearing his cricket stories (the longest hit he ever saw at the stadium, worse losses, etc) - this too reminded me of the legends that tend to float around baseball stadiums. I even told him some of my favorite Mets stories from back in the day.
Since I seem to be on a kick of doing bullet point lists, here are some of my oberservations:
-Cricket seems to draw a more civilized crowd than at a baseball stadium. Example: our sodas and beers were served out of actual glasses! It seemed very fancy to have a real glass at a sporting event.
-The IPL form of cricket was of great interest to me for the sports marketing aspect: there was a big DJ booth with great music, cheerleaders and fireworks. Although cricket purists frown upon the quick form of the game and the extras, it made me wonder if baseball would ever adopt a flashier, quicker version to market to a new crowd? Sure, baseball purists would hate it (I probably wouldn't advocate for this either), but it might be more fun for the casual fan.
-The players had to travel through the stands to get to their locker room. The area they went through was right by where we were sitting, so at times, I was just 3-4 feet away from some big cricket stars. This was awesome! Even when I worked for sports teams during college, I never got to be this close to players walking to their locker room.
-The food and drink were way more reasonably priced at the cricket game. The cost of 4 meals was 150 Rand, which is between $15-20, depending on the day's exchange rate. Isn't that great?
Althogether I had a great time. Mike, Carrie and Rob were great hosts, the game was interesting and the stadium was beautiful. Couldn't ask for more!
End result: Decan Chargers: 184-6 over Bangalore Royal Challengers: 160-8.
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