Catch of the Season!

I played my first game of cricket since high school on Saturday. We lost the game, but I had an awesome time of it!

I'm playing for the Karori 2C team. I'm not sure about the significance of the 2 or the C but you can imagine it's not exactly test match level. Although it is semi-serious: we have practices on Tuesdays and you have to wear all the relevant protective gear when batting. I also had to invest in some sexy white pants and even sexier special cricket undies for holding my super sexy and ultra flattering box.

My first training session I was ridiculously bad. For my bowling I only managed to get the ball to actually bounce in the right place once or twice. When it came to batting I was just so slow moving the bat that I couldn't hit anything. After that session not only was I feel a bit demoralised, but also very sore from working all these odd muscles I hadn't used in years. Considering how relaxed a game of cricket is, it's surprising how sore you can feel the day after.

Fast forward about 3 weeks and my bowling is actually on target, although still no match for the better batters of the team, and my batting skills aren't half bad. I can actually defend now if I am so inclined :)

My highlight of the game on Saturday was definitely this awesome catch I made. I was fielding on the boundary at mid-off (kind of behind the bowler, slightly to the side) and the batter smacked it high and to my left and it looked like it was going for a six. My first thought was I should probably run that way so I can collect it after it crosses the boundary, and then I realised that maybe it won't make it there on the full. A short sprint later and I managed to actually stretch out my left hand and catch it one handed! I even had to do a little tippy toe running to make sure I didn't run over the boundary myself. The team was stoked with me and some are labelling it as the possible catch of the season, despite this being only our first game. All it cost me was a sore hand...

For our batting we were chasing 189 off 40 overs. I was batting at number 7, and I can't remember exactly but our team wasn't doing so well when I came in - I think we needed another 100 runs or so still. I took my time playing my shots, only really swinging at the ones travelling down leg side, and padding away or completely leaving all the other ones. I even managed to score 2 fours and a six for a total of 23. It was a bit controversial when I got out, because of my own inexperience really. I went to pad away one of the better balls but it bounced up and onto my bat and then I was caught behind. However, the umpire didn't give me out and although I should have walked, I didn't know if that was 'the done thing'. I realised that wasn't really right so thought from then on I would play pretty recklessly and swing at everything. The very next ball I was bowled middle stump. Justice really.

I'm really looking forward to the next game. Hopefully the Karori 'Sunshine' improves a bit though.