I have some history, with this ground. 4 yrs ago, (it seems like a lifetime), I was watching S.Africa play N.Zealand at this ground, and, pretty much as usual, it was raining. It was the 4th day, of a 5 day test. I was happy to see it rain, I had backed the draw v heavily, and it was all good. It was banging down, an hr before the game was due to start - which was impossible, given the rain/state of the ground, but, I had a ticket etc, and .. with a good book, was happy to sit in the stand, and watch the ducks play.
It took some time to get into my alloted seat .. the section i was in, had been padlocked, and .. no-one had the key, as they didnt expect customers etc .. but, I finally got in. As it happened, my seat was quite close to the umpires locker room, and they saw me reading my book, as they ventured out, to look at the pitch. After 2-3 inspections, an umpire maybe thought I had better things to do, and said, I could probably go home in an hr, as they were likely to call the game off, for the day. This was cool .. I backed the draw some more ..
As the umpire disappeared into the changing room, the rain stopped, the sun came out, and literally, they were playing, 45 mins later. Luckily, I was able to salvage my book, but, Wellington, got a black mark.
Fast forward 4 yrs.
The N.Zealand / Bangladesh test, looks a certain draw, especially, as its raining v heavily on day 4.
Players havent left the hotels - radio stations, asking local residents, to a man, say, no play before lunch .. and once again, I back the draw.
Once again, the sun comes out, the rain misses the ground, and players were 5 mins late, starting - with little warm-ups, they were so-caught out.
This time, I couldnt recover my book, and lost, pretty heavily.
Not a great start to the year -- I did little wrong, but, paid the price, of listening to 'Joe Public'.
Good post.
ReplyDeleteMemories. Spent many an hour in the old Caledonian pub (sadly, or not so sadly as it was a dive, now gone) waiting for play to restart. But I take issue when you say you did little wrong? Trusting to the weather anywhere, but particularly in my old home town, is a bit like dancing with the devil from a gambling point of view. We have this thing called wind and no sooner has rain arrived it can disappear again. We also have a lot of hills and someone judging the rain by sticking their head out the window in Hataitai could get a completely different read to someone in Mt Victoria. Both a short tunnel from each other.
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