A totally incomprehensible sport according to most Swedes. On the other hand the worlds biggest sport, according to a billion Indians. On an abandoned parking place at Kämnarsrätten, Lundagård’s Kenneth Carlsson tries cricket.
If you have no idea of what you are doing, you have to at least have the looks that you know what you are doing. Dressed in the violet international jersey, a copy of Sri Lanka’s World Champion jersey from 1996, the undersigned hopes for the best.
”If he is from Sri Lanka, then he knows how to play cricket”, one of the Indians optimistically exclaims to the photographer.
Well, let’s talk about that later.
On a more or less abandoned parking place between the student housings of Kämnärsrätten and Willy’s, a group of Indians and Pakistanis are playing cricket every evening. They are in Sweden for different reasons. Mostly to study for their master and doctor’s degrees. In the beginning they didn’t know each other, but when a couple of them began to play cricket, several more joined quickly.
Sudip Joshi from Nepal has played cricket since he was eight years old. In Nepal as well as in India the cricket is played everywhere in the streets, the same way football is played in Sweden. As wickets they use for instance the back of chairs. On the parking place at Kämnärsrätten the wicket is a big blue container.
A professional player should throw the ball with a straight extended arm, something that’s almost impossible for a beginner. Both force and sight is lost. But as the very heavy and rock-hard cricket ball is replaced by a tennis ball, it’s okay to cheat with this throwing detail.
Parveen Kumar from India doesn’t care, he knows how to throw a ball. His arm is swinging like a wheel and in the movement of throwing he turns his body and legs to the shape of a circle. The ball flies away rock-hard and hits the container exactly on the spot. The batsman has not a chance of hitting the ball.
But often the batsmen hit the ball in a way that makes it almost looks easy. The ball enters the bushes and the game is interrupted momentarily. The fielding team is several times forced to jump into badly placed mounds in the middle of the parking place. At another instant the ball flies firmly just above the bonnet of a strategically ill-parked Opel.
Swedes are passing the parking place without seeming to understand what is going on, and it doesn’t make any sense as all the participants speak Hindi. A group of Australians pass by and halt. They have an understanding of cricket and looks as if they want to play.
“Do you want to join in”? asks Sudip Joshi in English.
“Well… no”, one of the Australians says but stays for a while, thinking about it.
There are few Swedes playing nowadays, even if there is a reasonably good cricket association in town. Srikanth Ranganathan has played with this association and perceives the similarities with several other countries in which the sport has difficulties establishing itself.
“Before coming here I lived in the USA. The players in their international team are mostly from India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. It is almost the same in Sweden. Maybe it is because of the weather – cricket is an outdoor sport and it is impossible to play during most of the year”.
If you play cricket, there is no such thing as a shower afterwards. At least not if you’re totally ignorant. Being on the fielding team there is a lot of time to kill unless you are the bowler. The exercise for the batting team occurs when the ball is hit. That is, if you manage to hit the ball.
As far as I am concerned, I’m not doing great. The cricket bat is heavy and even if the bowlers were very nice and threw me incredibly easy balls, and it’s not as easy to hit the ball as in rounders. Miss, miss, miss, miss and finally an acceptable hit. A short moment of excitement and then another throw. Another miss and I’m dismissed.
The game continues and the guys in the field all seem to keep track of the scores. I don’t understand too much of the game and the same goes for the photographer Jens. Apparently my team turns a weak position into a decisive victory. Cricket as a sport is less incomprehensible, but is still rather indistinct.
Translation: Lars Jansson
