Southern Fried Cricket

Learning the trade with my sister

Anyone who knows me well would say I love to watch cricket. It would have to rank as my favourite live sport, alongside watching the mighty All Blacks do their thing. It's been awesome to watch the Black Caps over the last 18 months as they've gone from strength to strength, culminating in winning their last three test match series (hopefully they can also win the decider against the West Indies). I've also played a lot of cricket since I was around six years old; turning out for Sumner Cricket Club during primary school, playing a bit at Christchurch Boys High School, and then donning the colours of the legendary Addington 4A (the photo below says it all about the good times had with that team). My batting technique has been described as most akin to Chris Martin's, but I bowl decent left arm medium inswing with good bounce thanks to my lanky frame.

Addington 4A

In Baton Rouge, cricket is surprisingly thriving. In fact, it even drew enough attention for a visiting New Zealand reporter to write an article about it, published in the Waikato Times (thanks to my Aunt and Uncle in Hamilton for chasing down the printed paper for me!). Cricket's popularity here is largely driven by the South Asian students and community associated with LSU, specifically those from Nepal, India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. It's primarily played in the large LSU parking lots, and real bats are used in combination with yellow kiwi cricket stumps, and a slightly heavier than usual tennis ball, made specifically for cricket (like an old school incrediball, but sadly it doesn't swing). Innings are usually 12-20 overs each with slightly modified rules played, like no lbw or leg byes.

The Waikato Times article on Baton Rouge cricket (click to enlarge)

Some or my best friends here in Baton Rouge are Nepalese so I play with them every couple of weeks or so. Abilities range from the very talented - by that I mean they could make the Addington 4A team - down to guys who have barely played before, but the games are always competitive and a lot of fun. The overall quality of play is pretty good and there's also great banter between the guys, even if I can't speak or understand a word of what is sometimes being said.

Teams from different countries don't seem to play against each other all that often, but I once had the honour to play as a Nepalese import player in a T20I against Bangladesh. We came out with a good upset victory, but my friend Asim tells me Nepal has been hammered a couple of times by the Indian team in the past - maybe we can change that soon!

Nepal (batting) vs Bangladesh

This past couple of weekends some of the guys organized the Baton Rouge Nepalese Cricket League, which was essentially a tournament between three Nepalese teams (nine players per side), selected using the style of an IPL auction. It was decided to play this tournament on the grass of the LSU parade grounds (LSU Oval) so there could be proper fielding. However, playing without a rolled pitch meant the bounce could be variable, with some balls keeping low and others rearing at your head off a good length.

The first Saturday consisted of three games of 10 overs an innings, where each team played the other two, with the top two teams qualifying for the final to be played the next weekend. My team, the Baton Rouge Tigers (BRT), bowled out La La Chha Chha Moj Gar Moj Gar (LLCCMGMG - literal translation "ok ok you got it, have fun have fun") for just 44 runs in the first game (yours truly bowling 3-1-1-11). But we failed to chase the total down, losing too many wickets and playing out too many dot balls on the tricky wicket. LLCCMGMG (the favourites) then won their second game against Baby Doll Mein Sone Di (BDMASD - literal translation "I'm a baby doll made of gold"), scoring 68 runs and defending it without much hassle. In a virtual semifinal we put in another good performance, bowling out BDMASD for a paltry 37 (My figures were 2.2-0-2-8), and chasing it down with 9 wickets and 10 balls to spare. The final promised to be a tight and gripping contest.

LSU Oval

The final format was 15 overs per team, and it was a damp morning when we lost the toss and were put in to bat. We lost wickets steadily, scraping through to a score of just 53, which we still considered defendable (we'd bowled out both teams in the previous games for 44 or less). Coming out to bowl all fired up we took three wickets in the first two overs. LLCCMGMG's middle order then put on a couple of good partnerships and we knew we'd have to bowl them out to win. We managed to keep the pressure on with a couple of big breakthroughs and it came down to 8 needed off the last over. The first ball was pushed to our captain Sudh at cover who fittingly completed the run out as the batsmen set off for a suicidal single, sparking wild celebrations for the Baton Rouge Tigers! I finished with figures of 4-0-2-11 and scored 3 runs batting at number seven. The tournament was a privilege to be a part of and the organisers did an incredible job.

The game of cricket is alive and well here in the south, and I'm loving it.

The finalists posing after a hard fought battle