In the name of Cricket

People often ask us what we miss most from South Africa. Our answer without the need for long contemplation – diversity. Colorado Springs is a typical white middle class city. One of my favorite sports is cricket. Now I know my American friends have and immediate ‘that stupid game that lasts for five days’ reaction. Well yes and no. Yes I love the 5-day version of the game, no because there is a one-day version too.

The battle for the Cricket World Cup is fiercely being competed in South Africa at the moment – unfortunately it doesn’t even make a blimp on the US radar. Guess what the estimation is for people watching it in the world?

One billion…….

I rest assured in the fact that when the winning team gets announced at the end of the month long competion; when the announcer says : ‘And the world champions are _____” ; that it will be the true world champions and not just a domestic competition on blown up to international status (that’s a whole other post for later).

Anyway on Monday South Africa played against Sri Lanka – and so I phoned up one of my American buddies and also A Taste of India; a restaurant in town showing the world cup. Now here’s the thing; in a span of 2 hours we experienced a mixed cross-cultural experience in Colorado Springs! We watched the cricket with people from Sri Lanka; Pakistan and India. During commercial the different languages offered a cacophony of mingling sounds – it was beautiful. The cricket was a draw – eventually eliminating South Africa for the world cup. Although I was saddened by the loss; I was richer in the friends I met and seeing different nationalities unite – around Cricket.

Why is it that in the two and a half years that I’ve lived here; I’ve seen more integration in the name of Cricket than in the name of Christ through the church? Just wondering …….

Anyhoo – we have friends visiting from South Africa and we will be skiing this weekend (I will lay my sadistic tendencies aside and start them off on the blue slopes).
See you on Monday.