By Brayden Payne

When I first came to India I did not know a lot about cricket.  But once we got to Mussoorie I saw the game for the first time.  It reminded me a little bit of baseball, my favorite sport, and I thought I might be good at bowling.  As we drove across the country, I really wanted to learn how to play cricket. 

I would always ask Mr Alter when will we be able to play cricket and he would always say soon. When we arrived in Mussoorie and went into one of the cabins at Mr. Alter’s family’s place, I saw a couple of cricket bats and tennis balls so I went around asking people if they wanted to play and not many people wanted to so we did not play at first. 

I settled down in the other cabin called Boy Town and I went outside and saw a couple of people playing soccer in the tennis court and I joined in but later on Mr Alter came out and yelled at us and said did you not read the sign.  He was right – there is a sign right outside those tennis courts and it clearly says no cricket or other sports besides tennis. 

So that was it for cricket in my mind.  I wasn’t sure we would be able to play at all.  But, then the next day we met Mr Alter’s cousin named Jamie who came up from Delhi.  We played soccer with him for a bit but then he told me he was actually a cricket commentator.  I asked him if he could teach me how to play cricket he said yes. So later on in the day we started to play I had so much fun I was pretty good at bowling which is like the pitching of cricket but I can’t say the same about hitting. 

I had fun and thanked Jamie then after that day we headed to Agora a small village in the Himalayas I was worried that my last time playing cricket had come and gone in Mussoorie so I was a little bit sad.  I wasn’t sure what else I would want to do, what else would remind me a little of something I knew.   Three days into our time in Agora, we went around the village and helped people out I went to Suman’s house and helped his wife and mom and then went out to explore I walked to the town square and saw a couple of kids playing what looked like cricket.

Panna was there and helped me ask if I could play. I ended up joining I was really good at bowling again but can’t say the same about hitting once again. Unfortunately, that was the last time I was able to play cricket. After we left Agora and arrived in Byas Ghat around 8 30 ish and I went to dinner and saw that a cricket game was on.  It was one of the matches of the cricket World Cup – the teams were Bangladesh and South Africa. It was a really fun match to watch South Africa won. The next day at dinner another match was on this time it was Canada versus Pakistan the winner of that match was Pakistan. 

And that was all the matches I watched but I learned a lot about the game by watching the professionals play.  I learned that an out is called a wicket. If the ball rolls over this little fence at the field it is called a four now if it clears it in the air it is a six. When you bowl you have to keep your arm perfectly straight. When you bowl a ball too wide it is called a wide and the team that is batting gets one point. And if the batter misses the ball and it hits the pegs behind him the batter is out, if the batter is running and is caught In the middle and a field player throws at the pegs and knocks it down it is out and if the batter hits the ball up in the air and someone catches it the batter is out. 

It’s funny how you can learn something just by watching and doing it a few times when you really pay attention and think about how it connects to something else you know.  Baseball has been pretty much my personality since I was little.  Most of the things I wear and do relate to the game.  It’s a part of me.  If I ever had to give up the sport, I would be giving up part of myself.  So, cricket made sense.  A bat and a ball.

After just a few weeks in India, I have learned a lot about myself.  I’ve learned that I am not prone to altitude sickness because I made it all the way to 10,000 ft.  I’ve learned that I can have a strong voice even if I don’t talk all that often.  I have learned that my voice matters.  I’ve learned a lot.

Based on all of this, I think India is going to win the cricket world cup.  They beat America, the team I was rooting for.  I saw a very impressive out from Kohli.  There was this one really good bowler whose style I want to match – so much spin mixed with speed.  They took out this tough American dude and got some good wickets.  Maybe cricket has become a little part of me too.

I’d be happy to teach you.  Huh, I guess I do know a lot about cricket.