Erstellt am: 8. 7. 2010 - 16:35 Uhr
The Other World Cup
Asian-toned shouts and shrieks ring out as the tension mounts at the semi-final stage of the 8th Viennese Cricket World Cup. Everyone is busy calculating in their heads what Austria needs to score to reach the final. From a corner of the ground, a non-playing member of the French squad, his barrel-chest bared, is banging away on a pair of Indian tabla drums.
We're not far from the banks of the Alte Donau but we could be thousands of miles away. The smell of curry is wafting across from the kitchen of the Austrian Cricket Club and on the sun-drenched field, the home team Austria, a team dominated by players with South Asian backgrounds, is battling it out with France, a team dominated by South Asian expats, in a match which is developing into the most exciting game of cricket I've seen in years.
This 4-day tournament, featuring teams from 8 nations, is proof that cricket, the world's most popular bat and ball game, is anything but sedate. The Viennese Cricket World Cup is all about big hitting, fast legs and cool nerves. Each batting team has just 48 balls to score as many runs as possible. A whole match lasts just over an hour and the tight framework means it's smash and dash all the way.
chris cummins
Here's a very brief rundown of the rules: Two batsmen are together at either side of a 20 metre long strip of ground called a 'wicket'. The bowler 'bowls' (a straight armed throw) a ball down the length of that wicket towards the batsman at one end. You get 1 run - think of it as a point - by hitting the ball far enough away to give you time to sprinting 20 metres to the other side of the wicket before the fielding team can throw the ball back and knock over your wooden stumps (three knee-high sticks) and get you 'out'. You get 4 runs for smashing the ball out of the ground, or 6 if you manage that feat without the ball bouncing. Hitting a "six" – like a home run in baseball - is the most glamorous way of getting runs, but if you don't hit the ball hard enough you risk getting caught 'out' which means the end of your turn with the bat. (Oh sod it - check out the rules in German wikipedia!) The game is all about calculated risk taking.
It's no surprise that this tournament is so Asian flavoured. The sub-continent is the driving force of enthusiasm behind the game that has brought it garishly screaming into the 21st century. Cricket has got faster, more furious and more colourful in recent days as its spiritual home has moved from gentile English lawns to the packed, sweaty and noisy stadia of India. Nearly 50 million people watched the televised final of the 2008 Indian Premier League final and the numbers are rising. In India massive crowds gather outside television shops when the national team is playing, eager to get a glimpse of their heroes, who are as idolized as a Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi in Europe.
chris cummins
Fewer people have been watching my efforts as a member of Team New Zealand at the Vienna Cricket World Cup and fewer still, I'm afraid, will be idolizing me. I haven't played since I was an apple-cheeked school boy and its clearly showing. I've run myself into a tomato-faced mess in the midday heat and been 'bowled out' – the wooden stumps I'm meant to be defending were destroyed by the only girl bowler playing in the tournament. There's no shame in that boys. Sadly, Team New Zealand have been eliminated and now it's time for me to sit back, sipping cold drinks and stuffing myself happily with dhal and rice, while watching the experts. And today the experts include the Austrians.
chris cummins
There are only around 400 registered cricket players in Austria (around 80% are from a Asian background) but they've put together a team that is athletic, dynamic and determined to win. In the semi-final against France, they are batting second and, dressed in a red and gold pajama-like strip, they have their firmly backs against the wall. The French have set a seemingly insurmountable target. It was a dashing performance, using inventive shots sprayed all over the field. They have one foot in the final, but the crowd are fully against them. Stereotypically enough, the French staged a strike against perceived scoring injustices early in the final day. Raymond Domenech, he of the flowing silver tresses and scribbled apology notes, would clutch his brow in dismay. La grève, la grève et encore la grève!
So with the role of the pantomime villains filled, enter (stage right) the swashbuckling hero. The atmosphere becomes electric when Austrian batsman Imran Asif hits 3 sixes in a row, massive shots that fly out of the ground and endanger local windows. Now they need 34 run from 16 balls - still a tall order, but suddenly no longer beyond the realms of possibility. But then disaster strikes! The French hit back by catching out Imran's partner as he tries for a six. A new batsman Akram Wafa comes to the middle of the field with the pair needing 16 from the last 6 balls. And then suddenly we are left with the classic Bollywood ending: one run from one ball. The batsman misses but dashes the 20 metres anyway, his head down, diving bat-first in a desperate attempt to make his ground before he is 'run out'. The wooden stumps are destroyed but the umpire judges that he's made it in time! The crowd erupts and invades the pitch. 'Imran told me "you're the king and you can do it with me." And we both did', remembers a smiling Akram.
chris cummins
In a bangra-toned version of Cordoba, Austria go on to win the final against Germany, a team actually dominated by Brits and Australasian expats for a change. The Austrians lift the trophy in the dramatic light of the summer evening and the red and white red national flag is draped around the captain's shoulders. It's a beautiful moment. If the game is to mind a broader base of appeal in this country, this spicy "World Cup" with its hectic pace, flag-waving and exoticism couldn't be a better advert.