Sport • June 2014

Cricket experiences that go beyond the boundary

Travel writer and cricket enthusiast Mark Jones rounds up some unlikely places to play an innings

The weirdest place I ever played cricket was in a park directly underneath the Hollywood sign. The opposition was a bunch of movie technicians and actors, including one George Lazenby, who barely troubled the scorers in his brief stint as James Bond.

Los Angeles natives strolled across the park and looked on open-mouthed, trying to figure out what bizarre cult required 22 men to dress in white and throw things at each other. Yet cricket was brought to California as long ago as 1932. And it’s been to some pretty strange places since.

Resolute Bay, Canada

The British MP Matthew Hancock took on a dare to play the world’s most frozen and northerly game of cricket on a two-man charity trek to the North Pole in 2005. It was -40°C when they set up the pitch. The game didn’t last long.

South Pole, Antarctica

In 2012, a team of explorers played a cricket match – British and Commonwealth vs Norwegians and Rest of World – to mark the 100th anniversary of Captain Scott’s arrival at the Earth’s southernmost tip. They used an orange ball.

St Moritz, Switzerland

In 1988 a group of British cricketers challenged the students of an international boarding school to a cricket match on the ice. It has since become a regular fixture every February.

Honister Slate Mine, Keswick, UK

In 2013, cricketers from the teams of Threlkeld and Caldbeck played the world’s first underground match. Rain, for once, did not stop play.

Bramble Bank, UK

Bramble Bank is a sandbar in the Solent between mainland England and the Isle of Wight. It surfaces usually in August or September – and if there is a flat piece of ground, if only for an hour, men will try to play cricket on it. And they do.

Mount Everest Base Camp, Nepal

In 2009, a 50-strong group trekked through the Himalayas to hold what they claimed was the highest game of cricket ever played – at 5,165m. The expedition leader apparently said the terrain reminded him of Surrey’s home ground, The Oval.

Dharamsala, India

At 1,457m, this pitch, overlooked by the Himalayas, is first-class cricket’s most spectacular and energy-sapping venues.

St Lawrence, Canterbury, UK

The home of Kent County Cricket Club is famous for its lime tree – the one inside the boundary (four if you hit it, six if you clear it). It snapped in two in 2005 – caused by high winds rather than an exuberant pull shot.