Cricket at Tughlaqbad Fort

This trip to India has featured a great deal of watching cricket in various sedentary poses but I managed to sneak in an impromptu game of cricket while touring Tughlaqabad Fort in Delhi on the 30th. As we entered the ruins and strolled around, we chanced upon a few lads playing in one of the clearings. Some bantering went on between my sister-in-law and one of their ringleaders (Ithink it started by him saying something along the lines of, "Check out these city slickers here!") and pretty soon, he was walking up to us and challenging us to a match. We declined a full match but asked if we could join in for a few deliveries, whether bowling or batting. I batted first. By sheer coincidence, I happened to be wearing my 2003 World Cup shirt!

The first delivery was a bouncer which sailed over my head (here, I face the quick):

And here the ball flies over my head:

The second beat me outside off-stump; I pulled the third and skied it in the direction of midwicket, but the catch went down; on the fourth, I attempted a smash through midwicket, and the handle of the bat came off:Here I get into position:

On the fifth, a new bowler, nicknamed "Ponting", came up to bowl, and clean bowled me first ball (sadly, this momentous event was not captured in a photograph). Later, I did some bowling. My first two deliveries were wides, the third was smashed away to squareleg, and the the last one was blocked. A deeply, deeply satisfying experience to say the least. How often do you get a chance to play cricket in Doc Martens on a real dustbowl in the center of the ruins of a fourteenth century fort? My partners in crime, the lads who so generously offered us a game, were excellent company. There was a great deal of banter directed at me, and at each other. Everyone seemed to have a nickname, including Leverock!

Thanks lads, for the great memories. And thanks to Scott Dexter for the photographs!