Crazy for Cricket

Ever dedicated to furthering Traveler‘s quest for an authentic "sense of place," editorial intern Alexis Chema bravely immersed herself in an ancient rite of the Britons during a recent jaunt across the pond:

A mere four hours after my flight arrived in the U.K., I was off to become an initiate into the most English of sports: cricket. For a (groggy) neophyte like me, a ballgame that requires knowledge of 42 official ‘laws,’ countless bylaws, a preamble, and multiple appendices seemed a bit off-putting at first, but the opportunity to experience a truly authentic pastime (cricket has been written about by English authors from Anthony Trollope to Charles Dickens, and played by the likes of Oliver Cromwell, P.G. Wodehouse and Arthur Conan Doyle) ended up trumping my apprehension. And, to be fair, even familiar sports have their share of scary scientific blueprints, specialized jargon, and textbook-style diagrams.

The match that we saw pitted the Middlesex Crusaders against the Sussex Sharks at bucolic Old Deer Park, which backs onto the Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, a UNESCO World Heritage site and home to several ethereal Victorian glasshouses that are just far enough from the cricket pitch not to be threatened by masterful batsmen.

While a single Twenty20 match (a newly introduced version of the game that lasts about three hours—regular cricket matches can last up to five days) might not turn anyone into an expert on the ‘glorious manly, British game,’ you don’t need to know a googly from a yorker to enjoy spending a sunny summer afternoon cheering for sixes (equivalent to home runs), chatting with local fans, and nursing a cold pint of ale."

IT still isn’t sure about this sticky wicket business, but we like the sound of that last part…