dbradby.net

Ducks in the rain

Pulling out of the driveway for my third attempt at playing cricket in Boston and it started raining ... again. Luckily this time we actually got a bit of play in, 35 overs each. We (MIT) started out in the field hoping the wet ground would slow the scoring. Well at the end of the 35 overs, the other team were 199 and we were wet and tired from chasing the ball around. I fielded mainly in the covers and did ok knocking down the stumps a few times.

Some people say white men can't jump (or play basketball). After being the only white guy at the ground that day, I hope I haven't shown that white men can't play cricket either (I was the only white guy at the ground that day). After a good start from our opening pairs, I was in at number 6. I walked out there and faced the first ball that was quite full and I pushed it gently too mid wicket. The next ball pitched quite short, about half way down the pitch and aiming around my off stump. What do I do? I step back and slightly across to caress the ball along the ground through backward point. Crash! The ball didn't get much higher than my ankles and hits the stumps.

At this stage it might be useful to describe the ground and pitch conditions. We play in the middle of two baseball fields facing each other. The boundry cuts through both baseball areas so we don't have a complete ground of grass. In the center is a strip of wet sandy gravel. Placed on top of this is some canvas that is pegged tight. When the rain came we even had someone run out with a piece of plastic to protect the wicket.

This may seem like I'm working up to a big excuse for my woeful duck. But I like to think of it more as a learning experience of the playing conditions. As my Indian and Pakistani team mates happily pointed out. I'm not in Australia now. You can't play back like you can at home. Right so I've learnt something.

Next time I hope to actually make some runs and take some better photos of the action. For now this is all I have.

Posted by dbradby at June 28, 2004 12:15 PM