My walk to the beach each day takes roughly 10 minutes down a path along a winding river, filled with wildlife and bird life, it also takes me passed many small homes and other guest houses, at night the dogs love to chase me with their loud barks scampering by torchlight up the path.
The one guest I pass the owner has now become my friend, calling me "South African" ever time I pass, I call him "hi" having I forgot his name. The other day he asked me to join him and his young son for a little practice session of cricket with a hard ball, most play with soft balls or tennis balls in Sri Lanka as the hard balls are twice the price.
To explain cricket it's a little like baseball, especially when practicing, you get a batter (hitter) and a bowler (pitcher), when playing with the hard ball the batter puts on some protective clothing as the ball is bounced and shins, feet and hands are the places to cover, the rest of the body is fair game. Hi, father was to be the batter, he strapped on an old pair of pads, little small, and then slide his feet into a pair of "Croc's"those plastic shoes with the little holes in them for your feet to breath and to substitute for the gloves he had a helmet, a bit serious I thought.
I positioned myself in front of the flower garden at silly mid off, cricketing term for crazy close position, but with the flower bed in the way I couldn't go any further back, father then moved me to the opposite side which I thought oh yeah maybe that side would have been safer, but no he explained you right below a coconut, that sometimes drop coconuts, that can cause serious injury if taken directly on the head.
Moving to the safer side the game begun, son emulating his hero "Malinga", Sri Lankan fast bowler, bowled the 1st ball directly at his fathers crocs, who applied some evasive action to protect his toes, either wise to the fact the plastic won't be no match for a hard ball or from past experience. The second ball again was aimed for the legs this time father wise to the trick managed a beautiful leg glance, we all watched with horror as the ball raced through the fence on the way to the river, after a bit of searching the ball was spotted just below the water level and father had to reach in the polluted, black, smelly, stagnate river to retrieve the ball, smiling he exclaimed, "must'n hit that side."
After we all got a turn to bat and bowl, son who was last to bat hit a lovely shot which carried the fence and landed firmly in the river, no one was going to brave serious illness by entering more than hand deep into the river and the game was called to an end, cricket I found played in Sri Lanka can be very hazardous to your health, but can also be a way to make new friends. Now each day when I pass I stop for a couple of overs with father (Asanka) and son (Ari), but they have decided to play with a soft ball for now, that floats.
No comments:
Post a Comment