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

All Things LSU

One of the key things that sets LSU (or most big US schools) apart from universities in NZ is the school spirit. It's everywhere - from people wearing LSU clothes, objects being painted purple and gold, and virtually anything can be bought this time of year with an LSU theme to it; the latest is the LSU tiger burger available from Burger King. This school spirit seems to have the effect of bringing everyone in the community together and you can definitely feel the excitement around campus for the start of football season.

The first game of the season is coming up this Saturday. LSU are ranked 12th nationwide going into the season and they play Texas Christian University, who are ranked 20th. I have bought season tickets again this year and plan to go to all the big games in Tiger Stadium - it should be a good time! To celebrate the start of football season I thought I'd post a few photos I've taken over the last two years showing the crazy LSU-themed things you can see around the place.

Sissyboytoyz FC - LSU Champions!

Last night Sissyboytoyz Football Club became champions of the intramural 8-a-side soccer league at LSU with a 2-1 victory in a tightly contested final. We've been playing together all semester (and some of us last semester as well) in the "purple" social soccer league which has been a lot of fun. The team is truly international with players from Iran, France, Spain, England, New Zealand, Serbia, Switzerland, United States, Norway, and China. You can have fun guessing which is which!

I'm still awful at football (or soccer as it's called here) but definitely improved as the season went on, and even almost scored in the semi-final. It's definitely strange playing in the defense after being a striker all these years in hockey!

Alabama 21, LSU 0

Dammit.

BCS National Championship

College Football is a huge tradition in America, and has an massive following of obsessed fans, not least the fans of the LSU Fighting Tigers. On Monday, January 9th, LSU will face the Alabama Crimson Tide in the BCS National Championship game, to decide who will be crowned the greatest team of the 2011 season. LSU is ranked #1 in the nation and has not lost a game all year. Alabama is ranked #2 with just the one loss - 9-6 to LSU.

A smart Alabama fan...I don't believe it

Despite these rankings, Alabama are considered favorites, probably because of their domination in the previous game, which they should of won if their field goal kicker hadn't missed more than he hit. I think LSU is being totally underestimated and has many players who are able to pull off big plays at critical times, plus playing in the New Orleans Superdome means they will have some sort of home advantage.

By far the most exciting player for the Tigers is #7, the Honey Badger, Tyrann Mathieu, a player capable of entirely changing the course of a game in a matter of seconds. Playing on the defense and relatively small in stature, the Honey Badger takes what he wants: blocking passes, grabbing interceptions, creating and recovering fumbles, making huge tackles, and unleashing unbelievable punt returns, including three stunning runs in the all-important last two games of the regular season. Check out the awesome video below to see him in action.

My pick: LSU to get the job done by 7 points, 27-20.

Geaux Tigers

Panoramic view of Tiger Stadium/Death Valley (click to view a larger image)

I've now been to all four LSU Tigers (that's the LSU American Football team) home games so far this season at Tiger Stadium/Death Valley. The stadium is massive, seating 92,542 people, and it sells out for every single game. So far this season the LSU Tigers are undefeated, have destroyed almost every team they have played, and are ranked #1 in the entire country. People in Louisiana are extremely passionate about football, just like we are about rugby in New Zealand, and LSU has a proud tradition, having won the national championship three times, in 1958, 2003, and 2007. This year there is a real possibility that they could do it again. However, their next game is away from home against #2 ranked University of Alabama, which should be their biggest test so far this year. If they win then they should be on track to go to the championship game in late December.

The games I have been to so far have been a lot of fun. Before the game most people go "tailgating" which is basically just setting up a marquee and having a BBQ and a few beers. Campus is usually buzzing on game day with all the people who come to watch. The university has a huge marching band (must be around 200 people) who play before and during the game, and who lead the student section of the stadium in their LSU chants. Sadly, I'm yet to see a close game as we have won every one so far by around 30 or more points. Inside the stadium it can be very loud and the atmosphere is electric at times (almost as good as when watching an exciting run chase in cricket), but I'm sure that during a close game it will be at its best. I'm sure I will get to experience it at some point while I'm here as I intend to go to as many games as I can.

As for American football itself, I definitely enjoy the game. It's exciting, there's a lot of big hits, and a high level of skill involved also. However, I wish there weren't so many breaks during the game; a game which has only 60 minutes of actual playing time should not take over three hours to finish!

Below are a few pictures from the various games I've been to so far:

LSU vs Northwestern

Pre-game huddle - LSU vs Kentucky

LSU vs Florida

Student section & band at LSU vs Florida

Get Up All Blacks!

Sport

Sport is one of the greatest passions in my life.

I love to play sport. I love to watch sport. I love to talk about sport. I think this stems from my competitive nature and the unpredictability and excitement live sport brings to the table. For instance, you can watch a movie and often know exactly how it's going to end. With sport, the unpredictable and unthinkable can (and do) regularly happen, and you can always see the best players surpassing records and achieving feats that have never been done before.

My favourite sport to play is hockey. For the last three years I've played for the mighty High School Old Boys Burnside (HSOB) club in Christchurch. It is a great club to play for. We have a great social vibe, with a clubrooms we regularly attend, and also play some decent hockey from time to time. Hopefully we can play good hockey more consistently and make an attempt at winning the Canterbury Premier League this year.

I've also played basketball, cricket, dodgeball, touch and volleyball over the years. While I'm in Baton Rogue I won't be able to play hockey as it's not very popular in the United States, especially in the southern states. I'm a bit gutted about that, as I'm enjoying it more than ever before and also playing to quite a high level (I represented Canterbury last year in the National Hockey League). I will most likely take up basketball again instead, although I will probably get totally dominated over there.



Me (with the ball) playing hockey for the Lincoln University Lions against Canterbury University in the Christchurch Earthquake charity game.

My favourite sport to watch is cricket. A lot of people (particularly girls, for some reason) think that cricket is the most boring sport in the world. This may be because you can play a test match for five entire days and still have a draw at the end of it. In reality, cricket is one of the most exciting sports. Once the rules and nuances of the game have been learned it is easy to appreciate how a match can have so many twists, turns, plots and subplots. My favourite form of cricket is the test match game. I do also enjoy ODIs and T20s, but the epic ebb and flow of a test match makes it just that much better.

Teams I support:

The Black Caps

The All Blacks

The Crusaders

The Black Sticks
The Kiwis

The Tall Blacks
The Warriors