So you may have figured it out by now, but in case you haven't I'll let you in on a little secret; Australia and New Zealand have a bit of a rivalry going across the Tasman Sea. Naturally, this extends into the sporting world. That's why we picked the Australia v New Zealand cricket match as our first live cricket match. With the ICC Cricket World Cup coming to New Zealand, we had to see a game, and we figured the atmosphere at the game of these rivals would be a good one.We picked a good game- it was a full house and not only was the atmosphere good, but so was the game itself.
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| Wicket |
Now, I know absolutely nothing about cricket, except that it's long. Some say it's even 'more boring than baseball'. That statement can be interpreted differently depending on your view of baseball. What I did know, was that the world cup matches are one-day matches, meaning shorter. At least I wouldn't have to sit through a whole week of a game I don't understand!
In preparation for match day, I did some Wikipedia research on cricket and tried to learn the basics so I'd know what was going on. I did pretty well, and was not only able to follow the match, but really thoroughly enjoyed it. The only rule I wished I'd learned about but didn't was the power play. Otherwise, it was great fun!
It probably helped that the match was 2 hours shorter than normal, and that it was a NZ home game with a lively crowd. The boy sitting next to us was so excited to be there and stayed engaged in the game the whole way through. It was nice to see kids getting into something other than their iPad (the kids behind us were on their iPads the whole game).
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| Brendon McCullum at bat for New Zealand |
Australia was at bat first, and they got out (10 wickets) in less innings than anticipated. A great start for New Zealand! All we had to do, was score more runs than Australia, without getting out.
The Black Caps captain and star player Brendon McCullum was at bat first. He was quickly hit by the pitcher with a stray ball. What an outrage! There wasn't even really a penalty for it. Brendon was a true champ and went on to play for 50 runs. Unfortunately he got out shortly after that, and New Zealand ended up needing 6 runs with only one wicket (out) left! Everyone in the stadium was on the edge of their seats, myself included.Williamson bats it out of bounds for 6 points to win the game for New Zealand.
What an exciting game! On a side note, I was glad we didn't bring an excess of fresh fruit into the match (we did pack a picnic dinner- well prepared for a lengthy cricket match). The fruit fly epidemic is still in high swing and no fruit is allowed to be taken out of 'the zone', in which the cricket stadium Eden Park is located. Hopefully they find all the fruit flies soon.
Or in Kiwi speak, 'Home is where you hang your togs'. I believe it was my youngest brother BK who coined that expression. We travelled a lot as kids- visits to Iowa to see grandma and grandpa and cousins and aunts and uncles, family vacations. Mom & Dad tried to book us in a hotel with a pool wherever possible (and reasonably priced). Whenever we were out and about for the day on one of these trips away from home, we'd often accidentally say 'let's go home, maybe just go for a dip in the pool' when mom asked us 'where to next'. In this expression, 'home' was referring to the hotel or place we were staying for the night- we didn't really want to go all the way back home. We were so good at adapting that we just made ourselves at home wherever we went, or as BK would say, wherever we hung our swimming suits.
