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For as long as I can
remember, whenever there's a Test Match on, life in Jamaica comes to a
halt. It seems to be the same in most former British Colonies who now
have nothing left in common but the language and a compulsive love of
cricket.
In the days before iPods,
when people owned transistor radios, at a certain time of year there was this low
background sound of a Match being played somewhere. The music would go
off at parties because at 2:00am we had to listen to the Test from
Australia! And, God forbid, you should ever need a lawyer when we had a
match on at Sabina Park as all the denizens of Duke Street would move
there!
Well friends, you
ain't seen nothing yet! The Mother of all Matches, Cricket
World Cup, is just days away. The new Supersize Stadium in Greenfield,
Trelawny is waiting for the Opening Ceremony on the 11th and the newly
refurbished Sabina Park sits waiting for the first match. The almost
century (no pun intended) old Sabina Park was jut refurbished after
hurricane Ivan blew it around less than two years ago but it had to be
done up again to welcome the world despite the total chaos caused to all
the business places in the area and the disruption to classes in at
least five schools. But after all, this is Jamaica, and cricket is more
important than doing business and going to school. Hope the J$8 billion
price tag is worth it! We shall see.
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Aerial photograph of the "new"
Sabina Park. |
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Artist's impression of the
Greenfield Stadium in Trelawny. |
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Cricket, Lovely Cricket!