Cricket

Last week I was able to attend my first ever cricket match. It was a one day international (ODI), which is a shortened version of the game – if you consider an 8 hour sporting event to be shortened. It was South Africa against Zimbabwe. I actually witnessed history as Colin Ingram had the best debut of any South African player and is only one of six players ever to reach a century in their ODI debut. For a national team game it didn’t seem that well attended. There were probably less than a 1000 people there. I suppose Bloemfontein isn’t a huge cricket market.

I grew up playing and watching baseball, so watching a live cricket match is not that much different. The stadium itself was a few grandstands and mostly just a grassy hill. People came into the stadium with gas braiis (BBQs) and picnic baskets. For the most part it seemed like people hanging out in a park with a cricket match going on in the background.