National Holiday

Many shops will be closing early today; people have taken the day off from work; big celebrations and gatherings are planned. What's the holiday? Well, today, India takes on Pakistan in the Cricket World Cup Semi-Finals. Okay, not an actual national holiday – but you would think so to talk to people. Cricket is a pretty big deal here. Plus, India and Pakistan have a storied history, so it makes for lots of additional drama anytime the two meet in any formal competition. This match has – no joke – been front page (and middle and back page) news for days. I would estimate 70% of stories in the paper have been related to the match: dissecting the teams, reporting on the drama over broadcasting rights and whether the match will be televised, skyrocketing prices of tickets, where various Bollywood stars will be watching the match, etc.

Today, the newspaper had a series of cricket jokes about the match today. My favorite, which I think sums up the excitement surrounding the match, was this: "A tip for all girls - How to know if it's true love...On Wednesday, if your guy spends the entire day with you, marry him!" I think that means I have a keeper!! There was another article interviewing a cab driver. They quoted him saying that he would probably work until noon, and then his cab was going to "break down." It's all about priorities.

So, what is cricket? From what I can gather (and by gather, I mean read on Wikipedia), it is most similar to baseball, as a reference. There are two teams, 11 players each. One team bowls, while the other team bats. Play is centered in the middle of the field on the "pitch" – a long rectangle with three wickets at each end. The bowler delivers the ball from his end of the pitch towards the batsman, and the batsman "on strike" at the other end. The ball is usually made of leather, and can travel at speeds of 90mph! *Interesting note – there is not a specialized bowler like baseball has pitchers; any fielder may bowl. The bowler's main goal is to dismiss the batsman. Once ten batsman have been dismissed, the innings* ends. I'm not sure how runs are scored. The Wikipedia article starts to get a little confusing at this point. However, I do know that there are several different varieties of cricket. Test matches take 5 days to complete – that takes serious dedication. I don't believe that's the type they will be playing today. I'm told this afternoon's match will be less than 8 hours. There you go – more than you ever wanted to know about cricket.

*Interesting: "innings" always has an "s," even in the singular.

ps – I heard Iowa got some snow yesterday, and I was really feeling pretty bad for you all. If it makes you feel better, it has been a little cool here, as well. We may just break into the 90's this afternoon. And it might rain.