What happens when you cross a Cricket with a Grudge?

I’ll admit it, I don’t understand cricket. Having read synopses of the rules associated with the sport, the terminology used and the elements of the game, it just does not fit into my sports experience paradigm.   The field makes no sense (oval); the positions make no sense (there’s a player called the “silly” and there is another slot called the “sillier”); and the scoring makes no sense (I can’t even describe that in some pithy way).  See if you can make heads or tails of this………..

I thought not.

However, there is no other arena where sports and politics are seemingly more entwined this Spring than in Mohali, Chandigarh, India as Pakistan squares off against India in the semi-final match of the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup on March 30th.  For those of you who remain inside your Western Hemisphere boxes, Pakistani militants, from the terrorist group known as Lashkar-e-Taiba targeted Mumbai, India in November 2008 with a coordinated three-day attack during which 164 residents were killed and more than 300 were wounded in shootings and bomb blasts.  The attack is now commonly referred to as “26/11,” – which kind of sounds like our 9/11 –  so this is a big deal in India.  The scars from the 2008 attacks remain fresh in the hearts and minds of the home team, and as a result, this semi-final match takes on ominous quality with the winner of the cricket match advancing to the World Cup finals and the loser of the potential regional conflict facing nuclear annihilation.

For those of us in the West who have never had a formal introduction to cricket (and really, you need more like a graduate level course than an introduction) we assume that cricket is predominately a fancy-man sport played in England and in few of its former territorial islands by well-dressed gents.  However, in both Pakistan and India, cricket is “the game.”  Fans are rabid – so much so that during this year’s ICC Cricket World Cup, violence has erupted prior to less ideologically-ripe matches outside India’s stadiums resulting in a very physical response by Indian police patrols.   Take a look at this guy.   He is not going to be too thrilled if Pakistan advances to the finals.

This week’s Pakistan-India contest may lead to heightened tensions on the sub-continent, or perhaps, this gentleman’s game will yield greater cooperation and understanding between these two nuclear powers.  Well,… that’s probably not going to happen.  But, here’s an instance where both sides would be happy with a geo-political draw.

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3 Responses to “What happens when you cross a Cricket with a Grudge?”

  1. Spounder Says:

    Boy, that guy looks worse than an Eagles fan…Im thinking Fantasy Cricket.

  2. Harpo Says:

    Did you know we in America, land of the 60″ LCD TV, we could have actually watched these matches, and in HD no less? Faster than you can say “Cricket Ticket”, DirecTV jumped on The Bench Jockey’s trailblazing wagon, and launched a TV package showing every game of the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup. For 5 points, without using Google, tell me where in the world is Hambantota, host of the Sri Lanka v Canada grudge match. I wonder how many people on this side of the pond (or pool) coughed up 149 beans for this privilege.

    I did find this little morsel, as a cricket term: Hat trick
    Getting three batters “out” in three successive pitches…so called because in the 17th century, a pitcher/bowler who accomplished the feat was rewarded by an immediate bonus, collected by passing a hat among gathered spectators.

    For those scoring along at home, Sri Lanka clobbered Canada by 210 runs, so I presume they covered. Sri Lanka beat the Kiwi team by 5 wickets with 13 balls remaining in the 1st Semi-Final.

  3. Dan The Man Says:

    I’d try to follow Cricket…but it would cut into my NASCAR time.

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