Today I head for the North Island and Wellington. I get a 7am bus for Picton and the ferry. Its a dull, wet morning. We head north for pretty Kaikora on the coast. By now, thankfully the weather has cleared and we pass through the vineyards of Blenheim in decent weather. We get to Picton around 12.20pm in plenty of time for the ferry an hour later. I dozed most of the way to the north island. I felt wrecked so I didn't bother heading out on deck until the ferry docked in Wellington. There's a cricket match this evening in town at the impressive looking West Pac stadium. Its a twenty20 match, the 2nd in a two game series which acts as the warm-up for the test series between the Kiwis and the'Rockstars' of India. I'm hoping to get a ticket for the match as it will be my first live cricket match so I'm looking forward to seeing the game. At the hostel I dropped my stuff in the dorm and head straight out towards the stadium after a quick bite to eat. It was a 30 min walk to the West Pac from the centre of town and the crowd gradually got larger as we got closer to the ground. A few thousand milled around outside. In the crowds I got that buzz I always get heading to a big match, a surge of adrenalin. It felt a bit weird though as tonight it was cricket and not football. As I queued up for my ticket the game had already started and cheering from the crowds within suggested the action was already hotting up.
Inside, the stadium was about half full but it was enclosed so all the sound was magnified. The atmosphere was good. There was a large crowd of Indian ex-pats and they were making themselves heard, determined to have a good time. Whole families, it seemed had turned out with mothers and fathers carrying infants and young kids through the crowds. The Indians were batting first and great roars erupted any time a 4 or 6 was scored. It was great to watch the Indian fans as their songs and chants were so different to what you'd get at football. Also to see them dance was a novelty. Arms raised up they moved their shoulders to the rhythm, dancing in the stands in a way I've never seen before so I spent half the time watching the crowd. Music blared between overs and it was great when the Indian music came on as the fans all got into the groove. A lot of the Kiwis stayed quiet for now, sipping beers. Their time would come later when they went in to bat.
I had watched the first game of this twenty20 series in Mount Cook on Wed night. The 'Black caps" had won that match quite easily. At one point it had looked as though the Indians were going to be bowled out before the end of the twenty overs which, apparently, is unheard of in Twenty20. The Indians did hang on with a great effort by Harbajan Singh to increase the Indian run totalbut the Kiwi batsmen had little difficulty in reaching their target. Tonight the Indian batsmen were more dogged but their run rate was still fairly low. They hit a total of 149 for the 20 overs. Perhaps it was the surface.
At one point during the Indian inning tensions rose in our section of the ground. A drunken Indian lad down in the front rows started taking abuse from various Kiwis. He hadn't been doing much, just standing up dancing and waving his arms any time the music came on. It was harmless. Himself and a friend were sitting in an area of empty seats but he was drawing attention to himself with his antics, oblivious to others around him. Even when an Indian batsman was bowled out he'd be up dancing. It was comical, I don't think he really knew what he was doing himself. But suddenly he started getting abuse from a group behind him. He heard it, didn't like it. He responded and then other Kiwis got involved. I was sitting 15 rows back and people around me were shouting abuse. Security were attracted to the incident and then notices appeared on the scoreboards warning people would be ejected for racist behaviour. Things calmed down again. After this, however, I wanted the Indians to win.
The Kiwi batsmen started their inning blazing the ball all over the place and it looked as if the game would be over very early. But then the Indian bowlers got down to work and the Kiwi run rate began to slip. Harbajan and Dhoni were class. Everything tightened up. The Kiwi batsmane were forced to rely on singles and doubles and the odd four. As the overs progressed the Kiwi runs slipped below the required run rate, but not by much and there was always the possibility of a few four or sixes which would put them back on top.
Into the last 5 overs and it became clear this was going to be a close finish. The Indian bowlers were keeping it tight. As each delivery failed to produce big hits for m the Kiwi batsmen the crowd began to get nervous. Then with 3 overs to go two Kiwi batsmen were bowled in quick succession. You sensed that the Indians might be going to hang on and win. At the start of the last over the Kiwis required 12 to win. They got a six with the first ball but only got 1 run in the next three deliveries. With the second last ball the Kiwis got 4 tieing the game. One run with the last delivery and the Kiwis would win.
We waited for the last delivery. A delay ensued. Indian fielders approched the umpire. The crowd began to boo. It became apparent that one of the indian fielders had been struck by an object thrown from the crowd. Calm was restored. The Indian bowler made his run and the ball was delivered at pace. A lot of the fast deliveries whizzed in at 140kmh. The batsman met it but the strike wasn't clean. The ball went into a high, looping trajectory. Two Indian fielders raced under the ball. If it was caught the game would go to extra time. If not the Kiwis would win. By now the crowd around me were all on their feet. A massive roar went up when the ball was struck but then the crowd hushed, holding their breath as they watched the ball loop high into the night sky and began to fall short. Everything suddenly seemed to go in slow motion. One of the Indian fielders made a desperate full-length dive to catch the dropping ball. It grazed his fingertips and slipped to the ground. The Kiwis had their run. They got the victory and cheers erupted again as the crowd celebrated. It was a great finish to the game, very dramatic.
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