A Cape Town computer teacher’s rumblings

Today was the third and final day of the last cricket test between South Africa and Australia here in Cape Town.

I was fortunate enough to get tickets for myself and my family and found ourselves at 11am in the dazzling sun at Newlands cricket Stadium (Sahara Park), not only watching the game, but quite stunned by the beauty, the smells and the sensory overload of being in a capacity crowd, all determined to have a delightful day of fun.

As we live close by, Mike and I rode on bikes to the game and avoided the usual parking hassle and long walk associated with rugby, cricket and thousands of supporters.  

What a dazzling display of colour and excitement!  It was a sensory feast.  The economy of movement and careful planning on the pitch as opposed to the gay abandon of the crowd, adorned and festooned with flags, fancy hats and warpaint.  An occasional Mexican wave kept you alert and on your toes. Many beers were being consumed and the air was pungent with similar brewery aromas from across the railway line where the beer is made. 

The cricket, as with all test matches was a slow and precise plan.  The Auzzies, in order to stay alive in the game, had to make more than 651.  South Africa had a 442 lead at the start of play.  They had made a first innings total of 209 so it was a near-impossible task.

I focussed on the children around me, the guy with the bottletops squashed into his Auzzie-type Drizabone/Barmah-style leather hat, the girl playing cricket outside covered in Lucozade stickers and the myriad of salesmen – selling boerwors, droë wors, roomys, cooldrinks, chips and later, when the sun went behind the mountain – hot chocolate.

 I found a girl with a “veritas” tattoo sitting behind me and I shared with her the significance of it!  She didn’t seem to mind being featured on my blog!

We had beers at lunch with my son and daughter-in-law.  I’d managed to negotiate free tickets with them from a “black market” ticket salesmen earlier who was about to be arrested by the police!  They had tickets in A row and Anja was excited but sad about the fact that she was at the last test match of umpire The Honourable Steve Bucknor from Barbedos who has been umpiring test cricket for exactly 20 years.  

The geeky guy with the green hair was probably left over after the “dress up day” they had yesterday.  

 Oh, by the way, Australia were bowled out for 422 just before close of play this evening.  The final score in test matches – 3-3.  We still have the day-night series and the 20/20′s to look forward to!