David vs. Goliath

Forget Arnold Palmer vs. Jack Nicklaus, forget North Carolina vs. Duke and forget Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Frazier. These rivalries don't match up to arguably the world's greatest battle... yes that's right, I'm talking about India vs. Sri Lanka in a 3-day Cricket test match. In case you are not familiar with the game of cricket, take a moment to ponder over this page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cricket

The sport has many similarities to American baseball. A hitter is trying to hit a ball and score runs. The pitcher (called a bowler) is trying to hit the wooden pegs directly behind the batter and therefore get him out. If the batter hits the ball in the air and it is caught by a fielder, he is out. Each match lasts 4 days and in this case there were 3 matches. So technically, one game last 12 days.... yah... it's white knuckle. Each match was played in a different Sri Lankan city with one match being in Galle (where I am located).

The Galle International Cricket Stadium is located directly in front of a 16th century dutch fort and right next to the ocean. The scenery is breath taking and before the tsunami, this was considered one of the most picturesque stadiums in Asia. Unfortunately the tsunami came and wiped out the stadium. Due to lack of funds, the replacement stadium seats far less spectators than the original, but still packs the same breath taking scenery.

Here is a view of the stadium from the wall of the Fort:


I went to two of the four days for which the match was being played in Galle. On the first day, I went with a group of other volunteers and we sat in the upper part of the left set of seats (in reference to the above photo). The tickets were some of the more expensive ones at 300 rupees ($3.00).

Here is a picture from the seats, facing the fort:




On the second day, I went with my host family. The father happens to know the owner of the stadium and we sat in an over air conditioned suite located on the right side of the central building. They served us tea and snacks, but i was freezing the entire time. The game itself is really boring, but worth the experience.

Some sweet action shots:




And one last one of me with Abadu (Ab-ah-do), my host father's son.