Talking Cricket

We were having dinner with friends the other night and the subject of sports came up in the conversation. The overhead TV was showing a cricket game. We mentioned that it was baseball season in the States and  Steve and Jannie both asked if we were familiar with cricket. I told them my only familiarity with cricket was the talking variety, in particular, Jiminy Cricket. This was not what they had in mind. Subsequently, they thought they'd give me a quick tutorial on the game to bring me up to speed. cricket bat and ball

I considered cricket to be akin to baseball … a ball and bat type of game. A ball is pitched to a batter whose main business is to hit the ball and run to a base. It seems that though there are some similarities, for the most part, cricket is nothing like baseball at all. Believe it or not, the game of cricket can be traced back to Tudor times in the 16th century. In fact, by the end of the 18th century, it was one of England's national sports … a gentleman's game. It's considered the world's second most popular sport … second only to soccer (football in most of the world).

young cricketer at bat

Beyond England, it's most prominent in post British-colonial countries … Australasia, South Africa, India and the West Indies. Why it never made it to the USA, I'm not sure although Wiki seems to think it's because 1) baseball is so popular and 2) in 1909 when the ICC (Imperial Cricket Conference) was organized, it was open only to Commonwealth nations and thereby excluded the US from participating. South Africa's national team is the Proteas (named after their national flower) and competes with other ICC teams throughout the year. There are also six domestic teams that compete in-country.

south african proteas

There were several terms with which I was unfamiliar and the guys filled me in. The person who throws the ball is a bowler, not a pitcher and he “delivers” the ball to the batsman. He doesn't pitch, because a “pitch” in cricket is the playing strip between the wickets. The white lines along the playing field are creases. There are all sorts of names for the bowler's “deliveries” like googly, flipper, yorker, slider, flicker and bouncer. In fact, Wiki dedicates an entire page to cricket delivery differentiation. Not so different, I guess, from sliders, screwballs, curve balls, etc. in baseball. Each batsman or striker's turn is called an innings (yes, with an “s” on the end whether it's singular or plural). There are two batsman at a time, one on either end of the pitch. Games can last from 5 hours  to 5 days. There are special rules designating intervals for lunch, tea and drinks. How very British!

cricket pitch

Here's an interesting thing. If the batsman hits the ball, he doesn't have to run … his choice. He can run if he wants, or just stay where he is. In either case, he can collect some runs. Not just one run … no he can collect four or six runs depending where the ball goes and whether it bounces or stays in flight. A cricket game can have a score in the thousands. The record  for the highest scoring game ever in major league baseball was set in 1922 … a total of 49 runs. The highest scoring cricket game? 2,376!

cricket scoreboard

The object of baseball is to hit a pitched ball, run around the bases and score a run. The defending team tries to prevent this from happening. The object of cricket is … I really don't know, perhaps it's protecting the wicket. Obviously, accumulating more points than the competition is key, but I'm not quite sure how that's actually done. After listening to the guys, I was no further ahead in the understanding of the game than I was before I started drinking wine and listening to their explanations, although as the evening progressed the tutorial became more amusing.

I got on line to try to try to clear things up a bit, but to no avail. I did snicker when I found out about  the “Snickometer” aka the snicko, used for determining whether a ball “snicked” the bat.

snicko

I also learned in subsequent research that several common idiomatic expressions have their source in cricket.

  • It's “not cricket” meaning it's not fair.
  • Being “stumped” meaning being perplexed, is a cricket term for one type of dismissal, a polite word for being out.
  • Being “bowled” over is to be astonished.
  • A sticky “wicket” is a tough situation. A wicket, by the way, is comprised of three stumps and two bails, but everyone knows that.

    harold pinter quote

Experiences, Not Things

I got sidetracked this morning by one of those list challenges … a list of 100 Places to Visit Before You Die.  Though it was America-centric, as someone else had already pointed out, we'd seen 43 of the 100 places listed. Table Mountain did not make the list, nor did Antarctica though it's probably as accessible nowadays as the Galapagos. I was a bit disconcerted that Walt Disney World Resort was on it, but nevertheless I was pleased  we'd visited as many places as we had. Then, of course, I started wondering how we'd get to the places we hadn't seen yet. easter island

Before departing the USA on Nine of Cups, we agreed that we wanted to visit every one of the 50 US states first. We called it “50 by 50” … 50 states before we were 50 years old. A visit couldn't be just landing in an airport passing through. Preferably, we had to travel in the state and have a meal before we could classify it as a visit. We did it, and though I'm sure we missed more than we saw, we've at least experienced, albeit sometimes in a cursory way, every American state plus Puerto Rico and the American Virgin Islands. We've since done several cross-country trips when heading back to the USA and we look forward to our road trips as much as our ocean passages. I mean how could you not be thrilled by the world's biggest jackalope or the Spam museum … neither of which were on the 100 Places to Visit Before You Die list, by the way.

grand tetons

So often, for many people, visiting a place is no more than ticking off a “been there, done that” list. Traveling by boat does allow us the opportunity and privilege of doing more than saying “Yeah, we stopped there for a day en route to somewhere else.” That said, I'd still rather visit a place, even briefly, than never visit at all, which relates to the topic of this blog post: Experiences, Not Things. After taking the travel challenge, I followed an associated link to a Fast Company article which showed that in the personal happiness department, spending money on experiences trumped buying stuff.

Basically, money can buy happiness to a certain extent. It depends what you choose to spend it on. When you buy stuff … whether it be a new diamond ring, a fancy car or the latest computer gadget, the novelty wears off after having it around awhile … once it's there and familiar, you hardly notice it. Experiences, whether they be an exotic adventure or travel to the city or a visit to the local art museum, stay with you and become part of you. You are the sum of all your experiences … not your stuff. In the long run, experiences increase the happiness quotient longer and more fully than material purchases do. That said, there are certain purchases, like my Canon camera for instance, that help to preserve each memorable experience, and as such, continue to provide happiness.

When we were in Tierra del Fuego, we had the chance to go to Antarctica for 12 days aboard a small research vessel. Though the trip cost was deeply discounted because it was a last minute thing, it was still over $2,000 apiece. We hemmed and hawed at this huge expenditure. This would really put a dent in the budget. In the end, we decided to go for it and though later we gave up some restaurant meals and “stuff”  to mend the  budget deficit, we've never regretted it for a moment. It was other-worldly … a trip of a lifetime and the memories are still vivid in our minds.

antarctica

So by default, I guess we've made the right decision ... at least for us. We cruise and travel around by sailboat with minimal room for stuff, but lots of capacity and opportunity for unforgettable experiences. Sometimes when we're disappointed or frustrated with boat life or repairs, it's good to remember what this life has given us … and then plan a road trip.

TIA - This is Africa

We've not complained much since we've been in South Africa, mostly because 1) we really love the country and the people and 2) we're visitors and are mindful of that. I guess I did spout out about load shedding once, but overall we've been pretty good. There's an expression here that we've heard time and again … TIA … This is Africa … usually used to explain to non-Africans why things don't always work out as planned or simply don't work at all. Lately, it's been more and more applicable. africa map

At the end of March, David ordered a part from the USA that he was unable to locate in South Africa. He paid for expedited service and the part arrived in Johannesburg within three days. Since that time, we have been waiting for the parcel to be sorted, clear Customs, put on a plane/truck to Cape Town and be delivered to us. Folks at the yacht club have been extremely helpful making calls, trying to locate the package, trying to expedite the processing … all to no avail. One day we hear the package is in Johannesburg, the next day we're told it's already in Cape Town and the day after that … it's in Johannesburg and hasn't cleared Customs yet. Subsequently, we went on a wild goose chase one day when we were told it had been sitting at the local post office for over a week. We spent an hour in the post office, only to be told it was still in Customs up in Johannesburg.

Phone calls to appropriate numbers go unanswered. E-mails are rarely acknowledged and when they are, there is no information available. The on-line tracking program doesn't have the package in the system yet, though it arrived three weeks ago. One woman indicated it was locked in a container at the Cape Town distribution center, but the postal workers were on a work slow-down and she wasn't sure when they'd get around to opening the container. To date, we're really not sure where it is or when or if we'll see it. Frustrating … you bet! But This is Africa.