Hubby is confused by Cricket. He’s not a huge sport fan. He can tolerate a hockey game – it’s 3 twenty minute periods. But cricket? A game that lasts 5 days? And even then the match might end in a draw. It takes so long each day they actually stop for tea. And both teams wear white. How do you tell who is who?
Unfortunately for Hubby our trip home from Christmas coincided with not one but two test matches. So for almost 10 days there was nothing on TV but the Boxing Day test from Melbourne, followed not long after by the Sydney Test. Australia lost both. Which meant England retained the Ashes. Hubby almost peed himself laughing when he saw the presentation of the Ashes urn. It’s tiny. Nothing like the Stanley Cup. He was beside himself. After 5 matches (each match 5 days long) they only get a pissy little urn!
The rules of cricket. Hubby just couldn’t fathom them. Caught? Bowled? LBW? Run out? Fours? Sixes? No balls? Wides? Overs? It was too much for him. My family took great pleasure in his pain. To prolong the agony we even gave him Wii Cricket for Christmas and tickets to an actual match in Melbourne. He could hardly contain his joy and excitement. Lucky for him the Test Matches were all done. So his tickets were for a Twenty20 Match.
See the grass zamboni?
The Twenty20 Series is relatively new. Introduced in 2003 to create a livelier form of Cricket to attract more spectators both at the ground and on telly. Two teams each play a single innings, batting for 20 overs. A match lasts about 3.5 hours. That’s about hubby’s limit.
He sells hot meat pies from those black things on his front and back.
The match we went to was at the MCG, or The G as locals call it. The MCG is more than just a sportsground, it’s hallowed turf. Cricket, Aussie Rules, Rugby League, Rugby Union and Soccer are all played here. The Pope, Madonna, U2, The Three Tenors, The Rolling Stones, and Elton John have all packed the crowds into the MCG. In 1956 it was the venue for the Olympic Summer Games, and in 2006 the Commonwealth Games.
The KFC Club - Colonel Sanders lives on.
So on Friday January 14th, we made our way to The G, bought food and drinks, found our seats and settled in for an entertaining evening. Hubby was most amused by the pieman, the KFC club seated below us (KFC were the sponsor), the cricketing version of a zamboni and the shooting flames. He did actually manage follow the game too. It was a close match and best of all – AUSTRALIA WON. Woohoo.
Australia batting. England is bowling.