Cricket.

On 4th January, I went to the fourth one day International Series match between New Zealand and the West Indies. It was played at Saxton Oval and was heaps of fun. When I was catching the bus from Nelson to Saxton Oval, I met Sonny Shaw. He is a big sports fan who goes to all of the Black Caps games, even overseas. He Told me an interesting story about when he was in Pakistan in 2002. When he was in Karachi for a game, he said that after a Black Cap hit a boundary while New Zealand had over hundred runs to get, with no hope of winning, a Pakistan fan broke glass seat and threw it at Sonny. He ducked and he said that, if he hadn't, then he would have been beheaded. 

I asked him what it was like in Pakistan that year when there was a bomb blast. He told me that he was staying in a hotel down the road from the Black Caps and the Pakistani team and he was at the stadium when the bomb went off at their hotel. He said he heard it from the stadium and when he went back to the area where the Black Caps were staying, he saw dead bodies with arms and legs missing. A Pakistani told Black Caps captain, Stephen Fleming, to toughen up and play cricket after Fleming was upset at seeing the dead bodies. I thought that was disgusting.

At the Match between New Zealand and the West Indies I met Ravi Rampaul, the West Indies fast Bowler who was not playing and I got his autograph. I also met another West Indies player, Keiran Powell, who gave me a bottle of water while on the boundary. I met a number of other cricketers including Black Caps stars Jesse Ryder, Brendon McCullum, Tim Southee and Ross Taylor. New Zealand went on to win by 58 runs on the Duckworth Lewis System after rain stopped play.

 I am so pleased that an international game has come to Nelson and look forward to when Sri Lanka come here at the end of the year. I am also looking forward to the World Cup games which will be played here in Nelson Next Year.