Whether we wake up early on weekends to watch the Premier League or not, all of us in Sport in England had at least watched football before. On deck for the class, however, was a sport very few of us were even familiar with: cricket.
One of our most jam-packed days began with the Lord’s Cricket Ground group talking to us about the history of cricket and Lord’s. Their podcast focused on the role of women in cricket, which up until the recent decades wasn’t prominent, but thanks to the likes of Rachael Heyhoe Flint, women’s cricket really began taking off. After their presentation, it was off to Lord’s Cricket Ground, the home of cricket.
Before any tour, we got the chance to get our heads in the game. That’s right, we received cricket lessons. In the nursery of Lord’s, where kids go to learn the game, we had a couple of coaches show us the mechanics of bowling (throwing) and batting while they also tried to explain the very intricate rules of cricket. Then, after gaining a sense for what to do, it was game time within the class. With a group full of student-athletes, the competitive juices flowed from the get-go and everyone was ready to go.
The teams were men vs women, with former baseball pitcher Alex Barner and recent softball graduate Jenna Kash serving as captains. The men bowled first after Barner won the pre-game rock-paper-scissors duel, but that ended up being one of the few bright spots for the men.
The women’s team utilized their three softball players at the top of the order with Kash, Madison Horn and Sammie Whitman getting things going. By this point, Sam Demmon and I had handed our phones to Dr. Tingle and Dr. Breidenstein so that they could get videos of everyone while we played to use for our Trinity Instagram takeover, so you would think I was prepared. However, nothing could prepare me for the scorching line drive off the bat of Whitman that she crushed directly into my forearm, which thankfully flew in front of my face to at least protect that. Sadly, Dr. Tingle failed to get this on video, but trust me, it happened. It left a mark.
The hard-hitting continued for the women even as Niko and Finnegan Tingle tried their best to salvage things for the men as bowlers. After every woman hit, it was time for the men to step in front of the wickets. I missed my opportunity to bowl, but I made up for it with the bat. I saw three bowls and hit all three of them, earning runs each time I made contact (video proof at the end of the post). Still, my perfect hitting wasn’t enough. Marisa Amarino snagged the ball off the bat of Niko to clinch the victory for the women, sending them into a frenzy.
Win or lose, playing cricket was so fun for everyone. It was awesome to see people willing to look silly and try new things, and it was also great to witness student-athletes go into game mode. Never in my life did I think I’d get to play cricket in London, yet here we were.
Riding the adrenaline of an exciting match-up, we transitioned right into our tour of Lord’s. The first thing that stood out to me was how unique just seeing a cricket ground felt. As majestic as Wembley was, and as homey as Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium was, we had all seen football stadiums before. Cricket, meanwhile, was totally new to us, and I personally had no concept of what a cricket ground looked like. That’s why my breath was taken as soon as we stepped up to the press box to get a birds-eye view of Lord’s. The field was massive, and the stands were so different than anything I had seen before.
As we walked around Lord’s, I couldn’t stop taking pictures of every little detail such as gardens, flowers and the brick foundation of the stadium. Taking in all elements of a stadium is exactly what I like to do on my baseball ballpark road trips. I’ve now gotten to see all 30 Major League Baseball stadiums and 23 Minor League Baseball stadiums, but none of those really compared to Lord’s. These grounds felt like a high-end country club thanks to its perfect landscaping. When we went into some of the more exclusive seating areas, there were also signs explaining that men had to wear ties and coats while women had to wear dresses or skirts. You certainly don’t see that at Minute Maid Park in Houston.
Our tour ventured into the cricket museum and then the home dressing room, which also was unique to any locker room I had ever seen. This dressing room overlooked the field and had a balcony in which players could actually watch the match while they awaited their turn to be out there. We then saw the royal box, which by this point we could tell every major stadium in London had, and got excited when our tour guide pointed out a painting of Heyhoe Flint that was newly added to the lawn room.
After a quick trip to the gift shop our tour came to an end, but we weren’t quite done with Lord’s. Later in the class, we’d all be coming back for a real live match!
New Zealand vs England
First we got to learn how to play cricket, then we explored the home of cricket, and now we’d get the incredible chance to actually watch cricket at Lord’s. The class split up in half as a result of how tickets were sold, so half of us got to watch day two of the New Zealand vs England test match and the other half got to watch day four. If that last sentence didn’t already confuse you, let’s back up. A cricket test match can last up to five days, and each day features about around six or seven hours of gameplay. Very intense. And people say baseball takes long.
I was in the day two group led by Dr. Breidenstein and Dr. Nishikawa. The tube ride to Lord’s featured several platform changes, but the last one was the most notable. As soon as we got on the final tube headed to St. John’s Wood station, the closest to Lord’s, I could tell I was going to a cricket match. People were all dressed up in “smart” clothes, such as suits and dresses, and many people were wearing fedoras.
Like our experience at Wembley, it was cool to see the stadium and surrounding area empty on a normal day before it bustled with energy and people on a game-day. Immediately outside the tube station, massive crowds walked toward Lord’s and guides helped direct people to the right gate. Here we split up again, as the Lord’s group got tickets that were a bit closer to the action than the rest of us as a reward for their hard work researching this venue.
Our group cut it close on time, so we hurried into the gates to try and catch the start. We were a few minutes late, but not to worry, there were still hours, and hours, and hours left of this international match between England and New Zealand. We took our seats that had a perfect view of the action and sat right in the sun. In San Antonio that might be a bad thing, but when the temperature had just gotten into the 70s (fahrenheit) for pretty much the first time all trip, no one was complaining.
Learning occurred during every second of the day at Lord’s. Most importantly was trying to understand the game itself, with Chris Vann doing his best to explain how the scoring, scoreboard and action worked. But even beyond the pitch there was learning and observing taking place. All around me, people had coolers and picnic baskets with their own food or drinks. Lord’s even permits people to bring in their own bottles of wine or champagne. That’s very different than not even being able to take water into the Alamodome. It is fascinating to see how different the culture of sport is in a different country.
Myself and a few others went down to the concourse to look for the gift shop and food ahead of the 1 p.m. lunch break. Yes, you read that right. Play is literally stopped for players and fans to all eat lunch for about 40 minutes. Hence why people bring their own food. Oh, and it gets even better. At 2:15 p.m., there’s also a break for tea. How British! I think we need to introduce tea during the 7th inning stretch at baseball games, honestly.
Since the match lasted so long, we were all allowed to leave whenever we desired. Unfortunately, I wasn’t feeling my best this day so I decided to end my cricket match day just ahead of tea time and hand my ticket off to Christian Settles, but I still had a wonderful time and saw about three hours of play. Digesting an entirely new sport and atmosphere proved to be an outstanding experience, and I’m so thankful for the opportunity to learn about cricket. After seeing so many baseball ballparks, I loved seeing a cricket ground for the first time, especially since it’s the second most popular sport in the world despite its rare presence in the United States. I even bought a mini cricket bat to add to my mini bat collection! As Maeve Armand and I were saying, it might be time to introduce intramural cricket at Trinity.
Great article and what a great experience!